


Joker and the Queen of Swords |Persona 5| Akira Kurusu x Fem!OC

by Komorebi_www



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Added another Arcana, Am I late to the fandom?, Angst is somewhere..., Basically a novelisation, Coffee, Cussing and Swearing, Death included, Dialogue Heavy, Did I use that correctly?, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friends to Lovers, I can't title, I tried to give P5 protag. some more lines., Love Confessions, Maybe strangers to lover ngl, Mutual Pining, Not so happy little accidents, OC is confused on how to feel, Practise writing, Queen of Swords - Freeform, Slow Burn, Sojiro the cool uncle, Somewhat apathetic OC, Sort Of, Switches P.O.V sometimes, Violence included, When I mean slow burn I mean S L O W B U R N, female oc - Freeform, first fic, no beta we die like kunikazu okumura, not sure if there's going to be a side pairing, somewhat canon compliant, somewhat dialogue heavy, still WIP
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:53:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27815617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Komorebi_www/pseuds/Komorebi_www
Summary: "Shitty adults" (as Ryuji would elegantly put it) plague every corner of the world, but in a certain prefecture in Japan there are those who wish to open their wings of rebellion and tackle these adults who are considered lower than dirt.A mysterious guy on probation and a girl whose emotional range is the epitome of apathetic, become allies in finding a way to free themselves from this so called 'ruin.'"...The contract has been sealed."A/NUpdates may be unpredictable considering how much I get done.
Relationships: Kurusu Akira/Original Female Character
Comments: 70
Kudos: 31





	1. Prologue

A multitude of helicopters flew over a lake of light and buildings that could reach the sky, heading towards its objective. The massive fancy casino that sat in the middle of the city, flashing neon lights in every direction. Inside the casino however, sounded a deafening alarm bell setting all the many gamblers and staff in disarray; casino chips were scattered and playing cards no longer rested in their deck. 

The silhouette of a masked man that leaped from one hanging light to the other only added more fear into the mix.  “There’s something here…” a random bystander’s eyes darted right and left. As if on cue, a group of men in black suits with pairs of sunglasses walked in sync, scanning the casino like security cameras.

Yet the elusive black figure kept flying through the area and eventually halted on one of the larger lights, a briefcase in his red hand and a smirk beneath the mask which covered half of his face. He stood there, holding one of the cables of the pendant light with his free hand. 

His figure lit up underneath the blue moonlight. The masked man had unruly raven-black hair, a light skin tone which contrasted with his dark attire and a long black coat which flowed with his movements.

“Hey… Up there!” one of the bystanders pointed at the young man and the men in suits followed the direction.

“He’s here. Move in immediately.” One of the agents called through his contact device. The masked man was not alarmed and instead a mischievous grin was plastered on his face and he began to move once again.

“Good. Now get running!” A boyish voice spoke through the masked man’s earpiece.

“This is our only chance!” Another voice spoke, this time slightly deeper than the previous one.

“Stay calm! You can get away now!” An impatient young girl was heard and he began to jump to the next hanging light.

“I’ll be able retrieve the briefcase on my end.” The young man smiled fondly at a certain female’s voice, “I’ll be counting on you.”

Beneath the young man the static of a mysterious transmission from one of the agents said “...suspects...not...confirmed...hold...your...positions…”

“Hm…? What was that…?” the young girl’s voice spoke once again.

“Don’t worry about us” the boyish voice paused, “Just concentrate on getting away!” The masked man did as he said and made his way towards the exit while his accomplices kept talking. “But I have to say, showing yourself above the crowd earlier was an excellent move.”

“I agree, it was a great show as always, Joker.” The female’s voice from earlier complimented.

“Ooh la la, looks like someone’s in lo-”

“Say anymore and I’ll take away your tuna cat.” The female cut off the so-called ‘cat’s’ mocking to which he replied with a small squeak.

“Note to self, she’s scary when she’s angry” the slightly deeper voice from earlier thought aloud receiving a low growl from the female. 

A different and more sassy female chuckled “I bet Skull wouldn’t pull it off  _ that  _ smoothly.”

“This happens because you have no sense of aesthetics” A smoother male’s voice agreed.

The familiar female’s voice calmed down and chuckled with the sassy one, “ _ And _ he’s an idiot.”

“Nobody asked you!” The voice named ‘Skull’ fired back. Joker managed to suppress a laugh and shook his head while running across the large lights, where he met one of the agents at the farther end.

“There he is!” the agent shouted.

“Just run! Get out of there!” The young girl’s voice panicked and Joker ran in the opposite direction.

“Good. Joker has drawn all of their attention. We should be able to slip away.” A completely different female pointed out.

“Everyone remember where we’re meeting up?” A softer female voice asked.

“No worries, I’ll lead the way” the young girl’s voice replied.

At the end of that reply, Joker had climbed up towards the opening and made a run for the staircase, but was blocked by two agents which rushed to the entrance.

“Stop right there! You won’t get away!” They shouted in unison and their bodies began to twitch into masked monsters, one of which jumped behind him.

“Roll up your sleeves Joker!” The sassy female spoke, as said man smirked and jumped elegantly on top of the masked monster behind him. Once he was on top, he began to rip off the mask and when it was so, he pushed it to the side with his feet and landed in front of it.

The monster no longer had the mask protecting it’s dark identity and slumped its shoulders over with a dragged groan. Red and black began to engulf the monster transforming it into something which would only be seen in fiction. It had a robotic body with a large metal tail and a bull as it’s head, it let out a terrible thick roar. 

“Combat ability analyzed. No problem. Kick his ass, Joker!” 

“Persona!” Joker called and behind him a being of his own merged out of blue flames and took down all the monsters with ease.

“Everyone else, head to positions! It’s route B, don’t forget it!” the different female’s voice ordered.

“I’ll be on stand-by as back-up” the familiar female answered.

“Roger!”

“Yes! It was a piece of cake!” The boyish voice told Joker.

As soon as it was said, more monsters appeared out of red and black in front of Joker “More enemies? Watch out!” The young girl’s voice warned and he managed to jump out of danger, his flowy black coat complimented his style. “Joker, behind you! Go through that door!” 

He turned around to see his escape route and ran through it, his steps quick but barely audible as he made his way through the endless hallways.

“Hurry Joker!” The boyish voice commanded.

“Dude, can he even hear us!?” Skull replied.

“Don’t worry, I’m picking up everyone’s voices. Just go Joker!” The young girl’s voice interviend.

“Shit!” Skull cursed “We got away from a bunch of those guys in black but there’s still loads more of ‘em…”

Joker hastily opened a door which led to a room with a large window but immediately ducked underneath the windowsill when an agent ran across on the other side. 

“Shit! Where the hell is he?!” the agent raised a finger to his earpiece “We’re unable to confirm the intruder’s location” and ran elsewhere. Joker on the other hand let out a small sigh of relief and turned towards another hallway, but hid once again in the shadows when another agent was spotted. Careful yet swiftly, Joker jumped behind the tall equipment in order to stay in the shadows, waiting for an opening to escape.

“...Hey, are you sure he came in this way?” The agent questioned and only a pause of silence was heard by Joker, “Understood, I will continue the search.” with that, the agent ran off in the direction that Joker entered from, missing his target. Joker jumped out of the shadows and ran for the stairs. He hid behind walls and scanned the hallways for the coast to be clear and continued running for the exit.

“He’s not alone! Find them and kill them all!” Joker overheard an oblivious guard shout over the phone in a control room as he ran past it. 

‘You better stay safe guys’ Joker thought, running up a flight of stairs, a small group of agents further behind tailing after him. The chase seemed endless until he burst through an exit to a balcony over a large dining hall.

“Is there something wrong?” the young female paused “the exit should be up ahead.”

“Through there…?” Joker looked forward, towards the large stained glass window which took up the center of the exit.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be waiting, I haven’t encountered any threats so far but according to Oracle, the bottom floor is...completely closed off because of the commotion.” The familiar voice explained and Joker smiled at the plan he created in his mind.

“Over there!” Joker turned his head slightly to see the group of agents running towards him with guns pointed at him. “There’s nowhere to run!”

With one swift movement he used one arm to pull himself up onto the white brick railing and ran across to be in front of the patterned circular window. He smirked “See ya!” and burst straight through the window protecting his head with his arms.

Glass shattered everywhere and flew outwards sparkling around him like tiny bright stars, with the radiance of the blue moonlight only made the scene even more breath-taking.

“Hmph. What a show-off” the young girl commented as he landed

After her, a sassy voice also commented “So reckless...gosh.” 

“I thought it was rather charmi- what the?” The familiar female stopped as a sea of bright lights shone onto the young man forcing him to shadow his eyes. “No way- I swore that there weren’t any- there isn’t any at my end!” The female said all at once.

“These readings, it can't be!”

“What’s wrong?!”

“What happened?!”

“An ambush?”

“Joker, can you handle this?!”

“Joker!”

“Oh no!”

The commander at the front of the large squad of police raised a walkie-talkie to his mouth and shouted “Capture him!” All the police, head to toe with protective gear, started to make their move, their headlights tracking their target as Joker knowingly ran towards another building.

“Joker! What are you doing!?” The female called out through the earpiece “I’m at- Shit! I’m coming towards you now!”

“No,” Joker stated bluntly and jumped onto a ladder smiling down at the police chasing him “you will stay where you are, that’s an order.” The female quietly gasped as Joker kept climbing higher and higher up the ladder that seemed endless, but it all came crashing down when an armed group of police shoved a rifle onto his head; his grip faltered, falling into the large gathering of police.

“Listen to me Joker! No matter what, we’ll find a way to save you. Just wait for us, and don’t go dying or something, ok?!” The female raised her voice but received no reply as he was held down by a policeman, his head turned to the side. 

“Suspect secured!”

Joker watched as a stranger’s shoes came into view. “Didn’t expect to find some kid. You have your teammate to thank for this” the guy smirked as he grabbed onto Joker’s raven-black hair, “You were sold out.” Joker’s eyes widened as his head was dropped back onto the cold concrete. “Search the area for any accomplices!” and all the policemen nodded in unison.

“Suspect confirmed! Cuff him!” Joker cringed at the pain in his right arm as he was eventually handcuffed by another policeman.

He stood in front of a camera in the police station in order to take a mugshot. The teenager held up a board which read ‘P508954TS’ then was taken into the interrogation room.

The young man sat in the middle of the room with no fancy attire, just his school uniform, hands tied behind his chair and his whole body slumped. A needle slept on the floor in front of him. 

“Guess the drug was too strong…” a guy paused, “wake him up!” he ordered and so they splashed him with ice-cold water. Water dripped down his hair and uniform as he looked up, blood and bruises painted his face. He saw at least two or three men in suits stand before him, his eyes struggling to keep open. “No dozing off.” 

The young man began to struggle in his restraints but it was futile, “You still don’t get it, do you?” The guy approached him “Give it up!” he yelled and kicked his chair causing the young man to fall over with it and coughed his lungs out. “Come on, cooperate. Or what, you want another shot?” The guy stepped on his head and rubbed his shoe onto him, the young man looked up towards the security camera and so the guy followed his line of sight.

“Huh? What about the camera?” he then returned his attention to the restrained with a chuckle “Are you thinking it can be used as video evidence?” He lowered and pulled on the young man’s hair.

“Of course not…” He managed to reply, his voice came out hoarse. 

“So you’re not that dumb. Which is good, ‘cause we get to take as much time as we _need!”_ he emphasised, slamming the teenager’s head back onto the floor and kicked him directly into the stomach. The teenager let out another strained cough as the guy walked away being handed a clipboard by one of the security guards.

“Obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation, possession of weapons…” He listed off then paused “Manslaughter too, yeah? Talk about a full course meal.” He waved the clipboard and continued speaking while looking over it again, “To think that all those crimes were led by a stupid brat...And you seemed to be enjoying every second of it...” 

‘I was...enjoying it?’ the teenager thought to himself, ‘Everything’s hazy...I can’t remember…’

The guy shook his head, “...You should know your place” and gestured to the security guard beside him, the guard began to unlock the teenager’s handcuffs. Once they were taken off he slowly sat up and tried to rub away the pain on his wrists. “Sign here.” The guy shoved the clipboard in front of the teenager “It’s a confession under your name.”

There was a pause of silence, “I understand…” The teenager took the clipboard and the guy held out a pen from his pocket.

“Don’t expect to walk out of here in one piece.” He said with a stare that bore into the teenager’s soul, “We’re  _ going _ to make you understand...One must take full responsibility for their actions.” The teenager took the pen from him and hesitated before signing his name.

Akira Kurusu

The rhythmic clicking of heels could be heard down the hallway. The woman wore a dark business suit with a black turtleneck underneath. Her long grey hair was parted covering most of her left eye and it waved behind her. Her dark brown eyes which had a tinge of mauve red stared directly at the direction she was walking but stopped when a police detective stood with crossed arms. “Excuse me, but this area’s off-”

“I’m Niijima from the Public Prosecutors Office” she introduced herself.

“The Prosecutor's Office? What business do you have here?”

The woman named Niijima silently rolled her eyes. “Just let me through; it’s urgent. There’s something I need to confirm with the suspect.”

“Niijima-san,” the detective sighed, “I believe this case is no longer in your jurisdiction. Besides...”

“Are you prosecutor Sae Niijima?” The woman turned behind her to see an older detective. “There’s a call from your director. Hurry and get it over with.” The older detective let out a sigh “To be frank, you’re being an inconvenience.”

Bzzt, bzzt. Niijima pulled out her phone from her pocket and pressed the answer button only to hear another, heavier, sigh from her director. “I thought I ordered you to be on standby.”

Niijima furrowed her eyebrows causing small wrinkles between them, “I’m responsible for this case, yet I’m not even being allowed an interrogation?!” she raised her voice.

“I’m calling because I knew you’d bring it up.”

“I will not be convinced unless I confirm it for myself” she countered, “this is  _ my  _ case.” A few seconds of silence was heard from the other line, then came a sigh of defeat, only God knows how many sighs Sae Niijima has heard today.

“Good Luck to you then. I won’t be expecting much though…” and with that he hung up.

“Ah, Prosecutor,” the older detective started and Niijima returned her phone to her pocket, “I forgot to mention something important. Your time will be cut short. We can’t permit you to talk with him long.” Niijima tightened her grip on her handbag as her eyes became downcast. “It’s for your own sake. His methods are unknown. After all, we don’t even know if it’s safe to simply meet and speak with him.”

Niijima faced the old detective again and simply said “I understand…” then walked towards the door of the interrogation room.

-*-

When Niijima entered the room she saw before her the young man which she knew as Akira Kurusu, pity befell her face. “...I didn’t expect it’d be you.” but she returned to her usual stern expression once she sat down across from him “You’ll be answering my questions this time.” she turned her attention to the needle which was still laid on the floor next to the table. “Those bastards…” she faced Akira again and leaned forward, placing her hands onto her knees, “can you hear me? It seems you’ve been through a lot. Almost anything can happen here...and I can’t stop them.” She sat up and crossed her arms “That’s why I need you to answer me honestly. I don’t have much time either.

“What was your objective? Why did you cause such a major incident?” She questioned, “I didn’t think it was a prank from the get-go, but I couldn’t assemble a case for prosecution. It’s because I couldn’t figure out the method behind it.”

“You wouldn’t understand…” Akira answered, his head still refusing to meet Niijima’s eye.

“Of course” she paused “That ‘world’...No one would believe it just by reading the reports.” Niijima placed a stray hair back into place and kept her arms crossed. “...It seems you’re coherent.”

Akira placed his right palm over his left wrist yet kept his vision down.

“When and where did you find out about that world? How is it even possible to steal another’s heart?” Niijima began her line of questions again. “Now, tell me your account of everything. Start from the very beginning.”

Akira removed his hand from his wrist and leaned his head into it, around him everything turned into nothing but pitch black. Then, out of the darkness fluttered a blue butterfly, its wings were iridescent and left a trail of ‘glitter’ behind it.

“...You are held captive.” A soft, mysterious voice spoke, “A prisoner of fate to a future that has been sealed in advance. This is truly an unjust game…” it continued “Your chances of winning are almost none. But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you…I beg you. Please overcome this game...and save the world…” The blue butterfly kept fluttering around him “The key to victory lies within the memories of your bonds-the truth that you and your friends grasped. It all began that day...when the game started for you half a year ago...For the sake of your world’s future...as well as your own...you must remember…” The blue butterfly which had encircled him eventually left, disappearing into a bright light.


	2. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira gets to Leblanc and the second protagonist appears.
> 
> A/N  
> I tried with the summary.

Akira’s eyelids snapped open from his peaceful sleep, then he adjusted his sitting position and blinked a few times. The rays of daylight filtered through the slightly blurry windows and reflected itself on the many things inside; metal hand-rails, the doors, chairs and the occasional key chain of a person’s bag. They moved at a moderate speed, passing by buildings and apartments of all sizes.

“Thank you for using this line today. We will soon arrive at Shibuya, Shibuya. This is the last stop. Please transfer at this station if you would like to use the subway lines.” After the announcement Akira’s face fell downcast, his eyebrows furrowed at a memory.

_ A man in a business suit staggered and reached out to grab hold of a woman who was trying to run away from him. Fear flashed across her face, “Please, help!” she called out to the young man she had caught sight of. _

_ Akira’s fist clenched as he walked up to the staggering man and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Huh?” the man slurred as Akira pushed him away from the woman. The man in the business suit began to stumble backwards. Tripping over his own feet he fell face flat onto the pavement.  _

_ Both Akira and the woman stared wide-eyed at the man, the headlights of the man’s vehicle illuminating the scene. With a groan, the business man pushed himself up and placed a hand covering the blood on his face, “Damn brat...I’ll sue!” _

_ Next thing Akira knew he was being pushed into a police car. _

“What? Are you for real? A mental shutdown?” Akira turned his attention to a pair of schoolgirls who were having a conversation not too far from his seat.

“It’s the truth!” the second girl held her phone closer to her chest.

“To a person though? That’s gotta be a joke.” she laughed, “You really love all that occult stuff, don’t you?”

Once the young man got off at Shibuya station, he began to follow the directions on his phone. He then froze and looked up at the massive crossway where possibly thousands of people walk on each day. It was large yet not-really crowded, some people didn’t follow the crossing and others did. It was chaotically organised.

Ba-leep! “Hm…?” A small melodic noise was sounded on Akira’s phone and when he looked down there was a red and black app that had an eye with a star as its pupil in the centre of the app. In a few seconds the app occupied the whole screen but the image remained the same. Akira tapped on the image repeatedly but it didn’t move at all and suddenly, so did the surrounding around him. “Huh?” He looked around him and everything slowed down and froze.

It was quiet. Too quiet for his liking. He did a 360 degree turn but nothing moved. Nothing moved other than himself and the heap of blue flames that flickered on the other side of the giant crosswalk. Then, it began to form some sort of figure. It showed a blue-flame silhouette that had an orange smile of sick joy which reflected onto Akira’s glasses, and surprisingly, he did not react.

Until after the whole thing occurred that is. When everything started moving again he was still standing at the spot he froze, eyes-wide and mouth slightly agape to which he quickly closed and looked down at his phone.

The phone still had the mysterious app on the screen but it did not occupy it, so he did what any normal person would do. Sent it to the digital trash bin.

Akira made it to a slim street in Yongen-Jaya where his new temporary home would be. ‘Starting today, Sojiro Sakura will be taking care of me.’ the teenager looked at his GPS once more ‘His home should be in the backstreets of this residential area…’ and tucked the phone away into his pocket. He walked around the area searching the nameplates of homes for a ‘Sakura.’ 

The weather was overcast making the street seem dull but the residential area had a comforting feel to it, no matter how small or cloudy it may be. He walked past a second-hand shop run by an elderly man, short apartments, a small supermarket, a florist and the people who lived here. He eventually came across a small, corner, two story house. ‘The nameplate here says “Sakura.” It looks like this might be Sojiro Sakura’s house…’ Akira pressed the doorbell which was fixed into the white-brick fence, he waited yet there was no answer.

“Looks like no-one’s home…” Akira turned his head to the right to find a parcel delivery man standing beside him, the delivery man then scratched the back of his head, parcel still in hand, “Oh, yeah...Sakura-san’s usually at his cafe around this time. Well, Leblanc’s in the back alley so I should make my other deliveries first...Mmm, next I need to take this package to…”

Akira had then gone and searched for this ‘Leblanc’ cafe which was, according to the delivery man, in the back alleys. After a while, Akira still hadn’t found Leblanc, he sighed and began asking the locals around him until he found his destination. The cafe was sandwiched between two short apartments and had a few plants outside. The red and white cover had the words 'coffee & curry Leblanc’ in English and with the dim light of the outside lamp he was able to see a chalkboard that talked about their menu. Indeed it did have coffee and curry.

‘It looks like this place is Leblanc…’ Akira thought, ‘I’ll go inside.’

-*-

‘Smells good’ a teenage girl smiled softly as she wafted the smell of the latte that she freshly brewed, then she carefully but quickly spooned the microfoam from a batch she made and used a toothpick to create details with watered down latte. All while humming a pleasant melody.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself.” Her uncle sat at one of the wooden barista chairs still in his apron, leaning his pointy chin and beard in his palm while he stared at her through his half-moon glasses. “It’s not often that I see you smile, except when you’re making a cup, Kagemi.”

Her face turned neutral again, the teenager looked up at her uncle and wiped her hands on her apron “I guess so…” then she took the latte with a milk-foam cat on top, into her hands. Her medium length, silky silver-white hair was tied back into a ponytail that touched just below her neck, the ends curled and her bangs framed her light skinned face. It swished slightly from side to side as she handed it to an elderly lady, “Here’s your latte ma’am, sorry for the wait.” she apologised but the lady just smiled sweetly.

“It’s alright dear, I have the patience. After all, your latte’s are more lovely than your Uncle Sojiro’s.” her squinted eyes looked over to Kagemi’s uncle “even if they do taste similar.” she then turned to admire the latte art and Sojiro grumbled something under his breath.

“Thank you, ma’am” Kagemi smiled again softly but it went as soon as it came. ‘It’s almost been two years since I’ve started living here…’ The girl looked outside the window but had a distant look on her face, ‘two years since  _ that  _ happened-’ Kagemi’s inner monologue was cut short by the sound of her uncle calling her name.

“Kagemi, your shift is over, you can do whatever now.” her uncle told her and she made a small ‘o’ with her mouth.

“Okay.” Kagemi took off her apron revealing her white button up shirt which was tied with a loose black ribbon and dark jeans, then hung it onto a hanger before undoing her unique hair. Her feet were drawn to the door, however she wasn’t looking where she was going and bumped into someone taller than her. “Oh sorry-” she looked up to see a teenager around her age, 17 or so, in a Shujin Academy uniform. His most noticeable features were his unkempt raven-black hair and black, slightly round glasses. ‘Is he...the guy that Uncle told me about?’ Kagemi thought and stepped back a bit. She then made another meaningless smile to the newcomer and said “Welcome to Leblanc.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As mentioned within the story, the OC's name is Kagemi (that is, first name). Thank you for reading! I'm sorta new to this type of thing and I'm mainly using this as practise so any constructive criticism is welcome!


	3. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira settles in and meets the long nosed being.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N  
> I really can't do summaries can I? Also this one is and took longer than I had anticipated.

“Welcome to Leblanc.”

Akira didn’t know what to do except stare at the girl in front of him, and she stared back, her smile left her face as soon as it came. It was as if time had stopped and they were the only two people in Leblanc. He stared into her light-brown eyes while she stared into his dark-grey ones. 

While he stared at her, he used this time to take in the atmosphere of the cafe. The aroma of freshly brewed and brewing coffee welcomed him, the low ticking sound of a wall clock that seemed to slow down, the wooden interior and the muffled sounds of the small flat-screen TV. 

Suddenly the girl broke off the stare and time seemed to return. She looked over at the older man, who sat with a newspaper in hand. He wore half-moon glasses, a pink dress shirt, khaki jeans and an apron.

“A public transit bus was driven down an opposing lane with its customers still in it!” The tabloid show host said, catching the attention of the customers and both teenagers, “The citizens can’t live in peace if this keeps up.” 

“How frightening.” An elderly male customer commented.

“What could be going on? Didn’t something similar happen just the other day?” The elderly woman who sat across the male customer asked.

“Vertical is… the name of a shellfish used for farming pearls…” the manager mumbled to himself, not taking notice of the conversation the elderly were having and the teenagers.

“Uncle, he’s here.” The girl in front of Akira spoke up and gestured to him. The man looked up to see Akira standing behind his niece.

“...Oh, right.” he said, he had a deep but soothing voice. He stood up from his seat and placed the newspaper onto the barista counter. “They did say that was today.”

“We’ll be going now. The payments’s on the table” the elderly man told Sojiro as he and the woman stood up.

“Thanks for coming.” Sojiro leaned and placed a hand inside one of his pockets.

“This place is in the back alley, so there’s no worries of a car crashing in here.”

“A what now?” his eyebrows raised up.

“There’s been a string of those rampage accidents, you know.” he paused, “I just hope that none happen around here.”

“It’s none of my concern.”

“Haha, we’ll see you next time.” and the elderly couple walked out of Leblanc, slowly.

The man sighed and scratched the back of his head, “...Four hours for just a single cup of joe.” he looked up to see his niece with a deadpan expression, “oh right  _ and _ your latte art, sorry.” he apologised and she seemed content with that then sat down on one of the chairs at the counter. He dropped his arm back to his side and returned his attention to the young man, “So you’re Akira Kurusu?”

“Is Sakura-san here?” Akira questioned him.

“...Yeah, I’m Sojiro Sakura. You’ll be in my custody over the next year.” Sojiro had a welcoming grin on his face, one eyebrow raised while the other stayed. “I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you’re the one, huh?” he then scratched the back of his head again, “Have you been told? A customer of mine and your parents know each other and- Well, not that that matters… Follow me.” he dropped his arm to his side again and walked towards the stairs, so did Akira.

Upstairs was only an attic. A very, disorganised attic. It had a bed at the far side, a brown couch that was covered in dust on the left, a study desk that was blanketed in a semi-transparent cloth and he could see the piles of books which dominated it, there was a table, two shelves filled with God knows what, a tall potted plant at the right side as well as a small heater, storage boxes, empty oil containers, plastic bags almost filled to the brim and a single box in the centre of it all. Not to mention the cobwebs on the ceiling, the stains on the wooden boards and it only had two light bulbs which lit up the entire attic. 

“This is your room.” Sojiro said bluntly, “I’ll at least give you sheets for your bed.” Akira stared at the entire attic, mouth slightly ajar. “You look like you wanna say something.” Sojiro said and Akira looked at him.

“It’s cluttered…”

“Sorry about that…” the girl Akira saw earlier was now at the top of the steps “we normally use this as a storage attic, so we haven’t really cleaned it.” she said. 

Sojiro turned and nodded at the girl who was now standing next to Akira. “This is my niece, Kagemi Mizuhara, she also lives here, downstairs is her room in what used to be a staff room. It’s not like we have staff anyways.” He turned to face Akira “She goes to the same school that you will be going to, authorities told her to keep tabs on you when you’re at school. Think of it as having a roommate or something.” he then scratched his chin “Oh, and don’t think of doing anything  _ weird  _ to her, got it?” he emphasised and Akira nodded.

“Uncle.” Kagemi deadpanned as if to tell the man not to get side-tracked, and Sojiro cleared his throat.

“Anyways, it’s on you to clean up the rest.” He directed towards Akira, “I’ll be leaving after I lock up each day. You’ll be alone at night, but don’t anything stupid or drag Kagemi into any of your business. I’ll throw you out if you cause trouble. Now then…” He paused, “I got the gist of your situation.” he crossed his arms and scratched his chin thoughtfully, “You protected some woman from a man forcing himself on her, he got injured, then sued you. Right? That’s what you get for sticking your nose in a matter between two adults. You did injure him, yeah?” he paused again, “...And now that you’ve got a criminal record, you were expelled from your high school. The courts ordered you to transfer and move out here, which your parents also approved.” He loosened his posture, “in other words, they got rid of you for being a pain in the ass.” he concluded and clearer wrinkles appeared on his forehead. “It’s best you not talk about anything unnecessary. I am in the restaurant business, you know. Behave yourself for the year. If nothing happens, your probation will be lifted.”

“A whole year…” Akira murmured to himself.

“Cause any problems, and you’ll be sent straight to juvie.” Sojiro nodded his head, “We’ll be going to Shujin tomorrow.”

“Shujin?”

“Shujin Academy-the school that I currently attend and the one you’ll be attending.” Kagemi spoke up and they turned their attention to her, she was sitting on one of the empty tables leaning forward on her hands.

“Right, we’ll introduce ourselves properly to the staff there.” Sojiro’s expression fell slightly. “There’s rarely a place that’ll accept someone like you, you know.” he sighed, “what a waste of my Sunday…” He then turned to behind him, the lonely box in the centre of the attic. “Your ‘luggage’ arrived earlier; I left them over there.” and with that Sojiro left to go downstairs.

‘I’ll be living here starting today…’ Akira thought, looking at the attic.

“Sorry about him, he can be a little strict sometimes” Akira faced Kagemi who had a poker-face expression and was still sitting on one of the tables, this time crossed-legged, “but once you get to know him, he can be quite the softie” her eyes softened fondly for a second but it disappeared the next. She then pushed herself off the table and landed with a small thud on her feet, “I’ll help you clean up, by the way, you can just call me Kagemi. I've never been a big fan of formalities.”

Akira blinked a few times, “Okay then, just call me Akira if you want.” He then thought for a second, “Didn’t Sakura-san say that I had to clean these up by myself?”

“Yes but, I have nothing better to do and two is better than one. Right? Akira-kun?” Kagemi questioned and held onto the stair railing.

“Yeah...thanks Kagemi...-san?” he said but it came out more like a question. “What honorific should I even use for her?” he thought to himself. 

“It’s fine to just use -san.”

He looked with widened eyes and blinked a few times, then scratched the back of his head, “I said that out loud didn’t I, Kagemi-san...”

She hummed a ‘yes’ then said “I’ll go get you some cleaning equipment, you can just change out of your uniform if it’s too uncomfortable.” Akira could hear the small thumps on the staircase as she went down and shrugged.

“I guess I’ll do just that.”

After Akira and Kagemi’s cleaning montage, the room was void of cobwebs, dust and any stains on the wooden boards or ceiling. There was no longer any sunlight and outside there were dark clouds which filled the sky

“It’s late...It seems like we’ve been cleaning for a while,” Akira said to Kagemi, who was looking out the window and hummed in agreement.

“I guess you’re right.”

“What the heck?” the two teenagers turned to find Sojiro with his hands in his pockets and face stared without blinking, “I heard you two making all sorts of noise up here but I didn’t think you were cleaning.” the teenagers looked at each other then shrugged while Sojiro looked around the place, one hand at his hip and the other underneath his bearded chin, he nodded. “Actually, the place doesn’t look too bad.” he complimented with a grin, with one eyebrow up while the other stayed, “though it’s only natural you’d want to keep your room tidy. Why don’t you two go to bed for tonight.” He looked down the stairs, “I’m going to close up shop and get out here myself. I won’t be the one looking after you if you get sick from staying up too late, you got that?” he directed to Akira, paused then looked at the teenagers who stood before him “and remember, no funny business got it?” with that final message he went back downstairs.

“Alright then...” Kagemi turned to Akira, “I’ll be turning in for tonight, if you need anything my room is in the hallway left of the stairs as you go down. Goodnight, Akira-kun.” Akira nodded and Kagemi went down to her room.

Akira turned to his newly cleaned attic room, ‘Starting today, this is my room…”

Once he got ready for bed, he changed into his sleep clothes, which was a simple black wide-neck shirt that reached his elbows as well as a pair of dark green trousers. He laid with his hands underneath his head and stared up at the wooden ceiling ‘Arrest...Trial...Criminal record…’ Akira furrowed his eyebrows when he looked back at the memory of him being arrested. ‘Still, I couldn’t just let that go...That day, I had to go home early…’

_Akira quickly jogged down his neighbourhood street, the street lights flickered and there was no car driving in sight. The air was crisp and cool as it clung onto his skin, that was_ _when he heard the yelling of a man._

_ “Just get in the car!”  _

_ “Stop it!” there was a loud yet hoarse reply. _

_ ‘I can hear a man and a woman arguing in the distance…’ Akira thought to himself, ‘I think they’re just up ahead…’ he began to run faster towards the commotion. _

_ “How dare you cross me!” _

_ “Stop it! Let me go!” her cries got louder and eventually he found them. The woman was struggling to get out of the bald man in the business suit’s grasp. _

_ “Don’t give me that shit…” the bald guy slurred. _

_ “Ow! Please, stop…!” _

_ ‘She’s in danger. I have to save her’ _

_ “Tch...what a waste of time. You think you’re worth causing me trouble? Hah?!” _

_ “I-I’ll call the police!” she stuttered. _

_ “Heh, call them if you want! The police are my bitches. They’re not gonna take you seriously.” _

_ “No...Stop…!” she cried, suddenly, the sound of sirens was heard in the distance and they both froze. _

_ “Someone called the cops huh?” he paused, then grabbed her arm more vigorously, “Get in the car! Incompetent fools like you just need to shut your mouths, and follow where I steer this country!” then, the bald drunk turned behind him to see Akira standing with fists clenched “What’re you looking at? Get outta my face! This ain’t a show. Get lost, kid.” The sound of police sirens became louder by the second and the red lights were becoming more visible yet they were still far away. “See? This is all because you’re so damn slow! Get in the car!” He repeated and everything else followed after it. _

__

Akira sighed and closed his eyelids but the melodic sound on his phone disrupted him. He grabbed the phone from the bedside table and had a look at the home screen.

‘Hm? It’s that weird app that somehow ended up on my phone…’ The red and black icon was clearly out of place amongst the other applications. ‘It’s so creepy…’ with that thought he sent the app to the digital trash bin. Again.

After a while, Akira’s eyelids were starting to become heavy and he eventually fell asleep. Or so he thought.

Akira’s eyes snapped open with a gasp, it felt as if he was lying on a wooden board. Except he was. The ceiling and walls were no longer a dark shade of timber but a deep indigo blue, chains that dangled from the ceiling swung slowly, water dripped inside a metal bowl and it resonated inside the small room.

Akira sat up with a grunt and let his legs hang off at the side of the wooden bed, the clanging of metal followed with him. “Huh?” he looked down at his wrists and they were connected together with chains. His clothing had changed too, he wore a striped one-piece that almost reached to the ends of his limbs and it was coloured in black and white. Akira leaned on one of his hands while looking at the other, ‘Is this...a dream?’ his thoughts were cut short by a high pitched chuckle and he turned to face where it was coming from.

He was behind bars. With a larger chain that was on top of the bars in an X formation, a bright yellow light shone on top of the room outside, yet it did not reach his cell.

Soon enough, two short and almost identical girls in matching blue prison guard uniforms stood in front of the cell. They both wore eyepatches which had the letter ‘V’, on opposite golden eyes, their blue hats had an odd arrangement of letters. The one on the left said ‘O.Y.O.O’ and the right said ‘X.M.R.N.’

Akira stood up and tried to move in order to get a closer look at the  _ other  _ person in the room outside, but the weight that was attached to his foot stopped him. A ball and chain. Shuffling closer to the bars, the chain attached to the ball clanged against the floor. Akira’s hands grabbed hold of the cold iron and gasped, eyes glued to the being in the centre of the room. The light shone onto the long-nosed being which sat at its desk, it had a receding hairline with long grey hairs at the back, its limbs were long and slim, and its head rested on its intertwined and gloved hands. It then held out a hand towards Akira, teeth were visible in its pointy ear to ear smile.

“Trickster… Welcome to my Velvet Room.” It spoke with a deep and heavy voice. After it had said that Akira pulled at the cell door, back and forth as hard as he could. Yet it didn’t budge.

“So you’ve come to, Inmate.” the girl who had blonde double buns on the right side of his cell spoke to him maliciously.

“The you in reality is currently fast asleep.” A more polite voice spoke, it was the girl with the braid this time. “You are only experiencing this as a dream.”

“You’re in the presence of our master. Stand up straight!” the other girl yelled and Akira turned his attention to the ‘master’ of the room.

“Welcome, I am delighted to make your acquaintance.” it paused “This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a ‘contract’ may enter. I am Igor, the master of this place.” Igor leaned on the back of his hand, “Remember it well. I summoned you to speak of important matters. It involves your life as well.”

“Important matters?” Akira sweat dropped and breathed heavily, yet his eyes never left Igor.

“Still, this is a surprise...The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think a prison would appear as such…” Igor paused for effect. “You truly are a ‘prisoner’ of fate. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you.”

“Ruin?” Akira repeated.

“I speak of the end to everything.” Igor answered, “However, there is a means to oppose such a fate. You must be ‘rehabilitated.’ Rehabilitated toward freedom... _ That _ is your only means to avoid ruin. Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?”

“...Wait- wait what?” Akira said breathless, he couldn’t believe what was happening, distortion? Ruin? 

“You didn’t decline, hm? Very well, that is enough. Allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation.” The two girls stepped towards each other and turned to a stop in front of Akira. “Ah, pardon me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline; to your left, Justine. They serve as wardens here.”

“Hmph, try and struggle as hard as you like.” The girl named Caroline stood with her hands behind her back, a baton in hand.

“The duty of wardens is to protect inmates. We are also your collaborators.” The one called Justine spoke with a clipboard in hand instead of a baton, “...That is, if you remain obedient.”

Igor with his deep voice began to talk again, “I shall explain the roles of these two at another occasion.” the girls spun so that their backs were facing him. “Now then, it seems the night is waning...It is almost time. Take your time to slowly come to understand this place. We will surely meet again…eventually” Igor removed his hand from under his chin and the sound of a blaring alarm resonated in the velvet room

“Time’s up.” Caroline approached, “Now hurry up and go back to sleep.” 

“Wha- Wait! I don’t understand!” Akira’s eyes widened and frowned as he aggressively grabbed the bars from his position.

This time, he woke up.

-*-

As soon as Kagemi buried herself into her mattress, her eyelids drooped and she drifted off to sleep, but as soon as she did, her eyelids shot open. She was lying on her back facing only darkness. Her eyebrows furrowed and she blinked a few times, remaining still in her spot. Her eyes wandered off to her side to find an unnatural deep indigo-blue higanbana gently swaying. Although there was no breeze, Kagemi felt a numbing chill that almost made her body tremble. 

Kagemi bolted upright at the sight, still facing the higanbana. Her heart stopped as her eyes darted around her surroundings, then carefully stood up to examine it.

The place was empty except for the field of an unnatural indigo blue that stretched far and wide, the sky wasn’t even sky, it was just black which gave the higanbanas an indigo glow. Kagemi looked down at herself and cursed under her breath when she saw that her feet were trapped beneath thorny stems and she was wearing a yukata. It was midnight blue with silver coloured stars that were more concentrated at the bottom of the fabric, her right sleeve however, was the same shade of silver and instead had blue stars rather than silver ones.

“Welcome back to my velvet room, Trickster.” Kagemi heard a voice that was seared into her mind, she turned around in her restricted spot. She could feel the pain radiating off her feet as the thorns moved and adjusted with her, she  _ had  _ to face the being behind her. Igor was sitting at his desk with the two wardens standing in between the both of them. Kagemi’s eyes narrowed as the three figures and Igor seemed to notice. “Have you forgotten who I am, Trickster?” Igor paused, “I believe it has only been two years since you’ve been bound to the contract.”

Kagemi’s eye twitched, “I never asked to be a part of it, Igor.” and the being chuckled at her remark.

“So you still remember me.” he leaned his head on his intertwined hands, the being ‘smiled’ at her with teeth that looked like they had been superglued together. “Even after two years of your early awakening, you haven’t done as much as touched the world that lies between the mind and reality. Ruin is soon approaching-”

“Ruin is soon approaching and the only way to avoid it is through  _ that  _ world,” Kagemi interrupted, unimpressed. “You’ve told me this already, two years ago, and nothing has happened.” she said in a matter of fact tone, expressionless. There was a long pause of silence.

“Have you considered returning to your place of awakening and defeating it? Trickster?”

“No, I haven’t and it’s not like I want to.” Kagemi stared blankly at the being although, something was bothering her. “Aside from all this ruin, why have you summoned me?”

“Do not question our master’s intentions Inmate!” Caroline took her baton out and slapped it onto her non-dominant hand.

“It is alright Caroline,” Igor looked at the short girl, who nodded and held her baton downwards. “I have summoned you here to warn you of the time that is fast approaching, where you will re-enter the world that lies between the mind and reality.”

Kagemi didn’t know how to react, she had to process what Igor just said. “What?” she breathed out, “re-enter  _ that  _ world? I’ve only been there a few times and I never want to go back there.” Kagemi’s lips pressed into a line as she avoided Igor’s eternal stare.

“Your ally.”

“I’m sorry, but my what now?”

“He has finally been bound to the contract and so, even if you wait, each second passing will only bring you closer to the time where you will both cooperate in avoiding ruin and destruction.” Igor answered, then pulled out a small rectangular wooden box from one of his draws and held it in his gloved hand, “Justine, please give this to the Trickster.” Igor handed her the rectangular box, who handed it to Kagemi. It had a small ryū etched into the cover of the box. “I thought the cover would be, fitting for you.”

Kagemi admired the design for a few seconds before unlocking the latch and picking up the contents. “Tarot cards?” she looked up at Igor who gave her a nod to indicate she was correct, “why do I need these?”

“You will find out soon enough.” Igor returned to lean his head on his intertwined fingers, Kagemi was about to say something but Caroline cut her off.

“Looks like your time is up, Inmate.”

“We will be looking forward to your next visit.” Justine spoke and the endless petals of the higanbanas began to fly away into the dark.

Kagemi fell out of her bed with a gasp, her legs tangled in her sheets. “Ugh…” she groaned, untangled herself and rubbed away the sleep from her eyes. “Somehow I feel more exhausted than when I went to sleep.” She sighed, looking out her window to see the rays of sunlights that peeked through her curtains, “My ally, huh…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Constructive criticism is welcome and have a nice day. :D


	4. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this chapter is a bit short and quite dialogue heavy. However, two chapters today! I decided to split the two because of the massive scene/perspective change so the pacing is okay.

Akira sat at the edge of his bed, dressed in his Shujin uniform. It had a black blazer with a white button up turtleneck underneath and checkered red and black long pants. He placed his black-framed glasses back on and looked at his hands.

‘...I had a strange dream. Ruin...Rehabilitation...What does it mean?’

“Looks like you’re up.” Sojiro appeared at the top of the stairs, he was wearing his usual outfit but with a white fedora and suit jacket. “Well then, let’s go introduce ourselves properly to the staff about your transfer. The school you’re attending is in the Aoyama district.” he paused, “It’ll cost you a bit to ride the train there, and the route transfers are a pain. I’ll drive you there, but just for today.” He turned towards the stairs, “Let's go.” he began to walk down, then sighed “Sheesh… Men aren’t usually allowed in my passenger seat.” Akira stood up and followed him.

They arrived at a normal Japanese school, at the front there was a long dark sign with silver plates that said ‘Shujin Academy’ there was a long row of small green bushes in front of the white concrete fence, a large clock fixed into the entrance wall of the school, Sojiro stopped at the black metal gate and took off the white fedora.

“Do me a favour and behave yourself, all right? Don’t get me wrong- I don’t care what happens to you. Just don’t cause me any trouble.” and with that they entered the school.

Sojiro was leaning over the principal’s desk, signing a few papers. Standing in front of them was a female teacher wearing a yellow-striped shirt with short curly brown hair, sitting next to her was the principal. He was a round man all-round but had tiny ears, he was bald and wore a beige suit with a red bow tie, and was directly staring at Akira with his bushy eyebrows furrowed.

“To reiterate, just so we’re clear,” the principal started with his low voice, “you will immediately be expelled if you cause any problems. Honestly, I hesitated on accepting someone like you, but there were some circumstances on our side...You might have done a variety of things in hiding in your hometown, but you will behave yourself here. If you are thrown out from our school, there will be no place for you to go. Keep that in mind.” His eyebrows relaxed and his chubby neck turned to the female teacher, “This is the teacher in charge of your class.”

“I’m Sadayo Kawakami. Here’s your student ID.” she pushed a card towards Akira, “Be sure to read the school rules. Any violations will send you straight to the guidance office. And, if by chance you cause any problems, I won’t be able to protect you at all.” she stated and faced the principal, “...That is your promise, yes, Principal Kobayakawa?” and he hummed.

“He is responsible for all his actions.” Ms. Kawakami looked off to the side.

“But really though, why me…? There should’ve been better candidates.”

“It was a sudden transfer, and your class was the only one that had an opening.” 

Sojiro tapped his foot repeatedly on the floor, “If you’re done explaining things, mind if we get going? I got a store to get back to.”

“Sakura-san, please keep a close eye on him and make sure Mizuhara-san does the same. Don’t let him cause any trouble outside…” The principal intertwined his large fingers together.

“Well, I’ll be sure to have a serious talk about the situation he’s in.”

Ms. Kawakami sighed and faced Akira, “Come to the faculty office when you arrive at school tomorrow. I’ll show you to your classroom.”

The two men walked down the halway, Akira tailing behind Sojiro who stopped to scratch the back of his head. “They’re treating you like some kinda nuisance...I guess that’s what it means to have a criminal record.” Sojiro sighed, “Turns out your past follows you wherever you go. By the way…” his eyes narrowed, “if you get expelled now, I won’t hesitate to kick you out. Got it?”

“I think I’ll scrape by.” Akira rubbed the back of his neck and Sojiro blinked.

“I could save us all a little time and just kick you out now if that’s gonna be your attitude.” he sighed, “School never changes, huh…? Come on, we’re going home, I wanna see how Kagemi is handling the customers.”

-*-

Ms. Kawakami was pacing around the hallways when she saw one of her work colleagues. He was tall, muscular and had frizzy dark hair, he wore a pair of sports tracksuits and a plain white t-shirt.

“What a troublesome situation.” he said to the shorter female.

“I can’t believe they pushed someone with a record on me. A male teacher would be better suited for this…” she looked off to the side and the guy shook his head, his hands placed on his hips.

“Why in the world was someone like that admitted here?”

“Who knows? It was the principal’s decision. I was told it’s for the school’s reputation.”

“I would’ve thought that my volleyball team has contributed more than enough to cover that.”

“That’s certainly true.” she sighed, the male teacher stretched his arms.

“Be careful, okay? Then again, if anything were to happen, I’d kick out a student like that right away.”

Ms. Kawakami scratched her head, “I keep wishing that he’d just end up not coming to school. Still, that isn’t something I should be saying as a teacher...”

“Well I should be returning to practice.”

“Oh, right. The tournament’s coming up, isn’t it?” she queried and the teacher chuckled with a smile.

“Hehe, having such high expectations placed on you by others is quite a problem in itself. We’ll have to work hard to make up for the track team too.”

“Yes...that’s true.” and with that the male teacher walked away, “Why’d it have to be my class…?”

-*-

Sojiro sighed, leaning his left arm on the back of his seat and holding the wheel with one hand. Out the window, Akira could see a very, very long line of red lights which seemed to go on forever. 

“Traffic’s not moving at all…sheesh, by the time we get home Kagemi would be closing up shop.” Sojiro gave a frustrated look at the line, “You’re taking the train starting tomorrow got it?” he directed to Akira who nodded in response, “...So how was it? The school, I mean. Think you can manage?”

“Eh, we’ll see.” Akira adjusted his glasses.

“Now listen up. Don’t even think of doing anything stupid.” he looked out the window, “Still, you were expelled once already. To think you’d re-enroll at a different one. It’s not like anyone will be sympathetic with you.” Sojiro shook his head, “If that’s what it was like at school, people might say stuff about me in the future too… What a troublesome kid I’ve taken in…”

Akira looked at the older man next to him, “Why did you take me in?”

“I was asked to do it, and I just…” he paused, “happened to agree to it. I’ve already been paid for it too, after all.”

“Again, a subway has derailed at the Shibuya Station, greatly affecting the timetable all across the...” the static radio spoke.

“...Another accident?” Sojiro rubbed his face, “So that’s why it’s so crowded. There’s been a lot of those lately…”


	5. 4

Underneath the digital signs that had yellow pixelated characters sliding side to side was a platform with it’s usual visitors. There were men, women and children alike who were waiting for the incoming metal transport, the staff members occasionally looking over the tracks. 

“The inbound train is about to arrive on platform number one, please wait behind the yellow line.”

It was as if a bomb exploded. The PA system wasn't audible as a forceful gust of wind was born out of the train’s over acceleration. Children clung onto the clothes of their parents as they were almost propelled backwards. The wheels screamed out bloody murder as the bus-sized carriages swinged around the corner.

The civilians in the carriages were holding tightly on handrails or hanging straps their bodies violently shaking. “Hey! What’s going on?!” one of the passengers banged on the conductor’s door but their cries of fear were only met with silence.

Light barely entered the conductor's control room. His clenched hands were frozen on the controls which were pushed forward, black liquid began oozing out from his mouth and the white’s of his eyes took over. The train shook once more before it slowly began to lean over onto one of its sides.

“We’re experiencing technical difficulties in the lower line.” the PA system announced. The civilians stood behind the yellow line, their heads turned towards the screeching noises, one of the staff members looking for the incoming train.

“I don't have a visual yet...Oh fu-” there were multitudes of high-pitched screams as the front carriage of the train crashed into the side of the platform. Concrete broke off from their structures and glass shattered on impact while the civilians desperately sought safety from the collision. The carriages split into two, one on top of the other and it scraped the ceiling like nails on a chalkboard. 

\---

“That is direct footage from the accident.” The newscaster spoke as the image minimised to the top left corner of the screen. “According to the police, the engineer’s life was not in danger despite his injuries. After questioning, even he could not explain his high speed when approaching the station. No further comments were made. Police are still looking for a plausible motive…”

Two people did not leave their eyes off the screen, one of which was an old balding man who wore a blue business suit and square shaped glasses. The other was a young woman with long, parted grey hair, she wore a black turtleneck underneath her dark business suit.

“It’s less of an operating accident and more of a crime of the company and the government.” the old man spoke his chin pressed against his balled hands, “Site inspectors apparently reported all of this six months ago--the deterioration of the tracks and the ATC. Seems the railway company and the Ministry of Transport both turned a blind eye to the truth.” the woman’s dark brown eyes stared intensely at the screen, her mouth pressed into a thin line. “There’s no way they can hide. This will go all the way to the top.” The man finished to pay attention to the television.

“Now onto our main story. With this derailment accident, as well as other recent incidents of unknown motive, concern is spreading among the general public. Just what could be causing such drastic change so suddenly in these people?...”

The man looked at the female, “Everything’s linked--that’s what you’re thinking, correct?” he sighed through his nose and smiled, “Ah well. Are you free? You and I haven’t gone for a drink in a while.”

The woman removed her eyes from the screen and returned the smile, “thank you, sir, but I have another meeting to attend.” she bowed to her superior, the SIU Director, “I must be going.” then walked out the office.

Her heels clicked at each step she took down the extravagant staircase and it echoed loudly in the empty entrance. A young man was leaning on the thick railings of the staircase, he had slightly long light brown hair and dark brown eyes to compliment. He wore a grey school blazer, a long pair of black pants, black gloves and a silver briefcase in his left hand. The teenager turned when he saw the woman out of his peripheral vision.

“Did you ask for me? Is it a case?” His voice was light and sweet like honey as he looked up at his grey-haired female superior.

“Not quite. I want your opinion on something.” she walked past him.

“Sure.” he smiled, “Your judgement is quite often correct, though.” then quickly matched her pace, “Can we discuss this over sushi, perhaps? You are making a student work late, after all.”

“Conveyer belt only.” the teenager’s face fell at her blunt reply.

“Aw…”


	6. 5

“Damn, to think there’d be that much traffic…” Sojiro sighed and placed his white fedora on the counter, “What a waste of time. I wasn’t able to see Kagemi work today… Ah speak of the devil.” Kagemi entered from the hallway, blinking at the two men.

Her hair was damp and small droplets escaped onto the floor as she was using a small towel to dry away the moisture from it. She wore a cotton button up pyjama shirt that had several vertical grey stripes on top of her black tracksuit pants which reached her ankles. “Oh, you’re finally back. Took you long enough…” she pouted her expression not changing and looked off to the side.

“Don’t blame me, blame the traffic.” he huffed then looked up at the girl, “Anyways, how was the shop while I was gone? Did you handle it well?”

Kagemi hummed a monotone yes and folded her towel. “There were only two or three customers so I didn’t do much.” she turned over to Akira who was leaning on one of the chairs, “How was it?”

Akira straightened and adjusted his round glasses, “It was alright.” he answered and she smiled for a  _ very  _ short period of time.

“Okay, that’s enough chit-chat for today.” Sojiro interrupted, “Just head upstairs. There’s something I need to give you.” he directed to Akira who gave a nod and left for the stairs, Sojiro following behind. 

  
  


“Talk about a gruesome accident...Eighty people were involved.” the man commented, looking at his phone before pocketing it and taking out an A5 book with a black cover. “It’s a diary. Make sure you write in it.” he tossed the book onto a nearby table, “You may be under probation, but there’s no special limitations on what you do in particular. Besides following the law that is. However, I’m obligated to report on you, which is why I’m having you record your daily activities.” 

A melodic ringtone sounded in Sojiro’s pocket and he turned around to answer it, “Hey, what’s up?” there was a pause of silence, “I’m about to leave right now. Don’t worry.” he smiled, “I’ll be there in no time...Uh-huh, I’ll see you soon.”  _ beep. _ “Well, I’m off. I’ll lock the place up, so do whatever you want for the rest of the night” He took one step before stopping, “Oh, but don’t lay a finger on Kagemi or mess up my store. If something goes missing I’ll hand you straight over to the cops. You got school tomorrow...You better head off to bed all right?” with that final message he went down the stairs, the chime of the front door sounded soon after.

Akira picked up the diary, looking at it back to front. ‘I should do as I’m told for now.’ Akira zipped open his book bag and took out the first thing he touched, it was a ballpoint pen. He opened up to the first page and began writing.

“I have an early day tomorrow...I should rest up.” he murmured to himself and began to change into his sleep clothes.

_ Brrring, Brrring. Brrring, Brrring.  _ Akira stopped changing abruptly, he stalked to the top of the stairs and hesitated to go down, he could hear the retro landline that sat at the counter going off, and eventually he gave in to his minor curiosity. When he reached the counter, his hand hovered over the yellow phone, but a smaller one beat him to it.

__ “Hello, this is Leblanc.” her voice was calm and steady.

“It’s me.” Akira could hear the voice on the other line, Kagemi spared him a glance.

“Uncle Sojiro? What is it?” her hand tightened on the phone.

“Uh… I closed up shop, but I forgot to flip the sign to ‘CLOSED’” Kagemi’s grip loosened as she turned to the checkered glass door, indeed the ‘CLOSED’ sign was facing the wrong way. 

“Oh.”

“It’s too much of a hassle for me to go back, so could you flip the sign for me?” it sounded more like a statement rather than a question. Kagemi glanced towards Akira and gave a small nod, he stood there for a few seconds before responding.

“Okay got it.” Akira managed to say and Kagemi mouthed a ‘thank you.’

“Akira-kun is doing it right now.”

“Tell him I say thanks. Anyways, I’m sure no one’s gonna come, even if it says ‘OPEN.’ Thank goodness, I was able to reach you. I thought you were asleep and I made it a habit not to save guys’ numbers on my cell phone, but turns out you’re both still awake” Sojiro rambled and sighed, “Anyway, I’m glad you answered.” and with that he hung up, a long beep was made until it was shut up with a clang.

“He says thanks.” She went behind the dark wooden counter, her palm gliding along the surface until she stopped and opened up a cabinet with a creak bringing out a ceramic yunomi. 

“What are you still doing up?” Akira plopped himself down on a chair, head leaning on his hand and eyes tracking her movements. She took a small paper tea bag and dropped it into her empty cup.

“Making tea, I find it hard to sleep on some days.” hot water began to soak the tea bag transforming the water into a sunshine yellow. It emitted a fresh and slightly sweet aroma. “I could ask the same about you.” 

“I was just about to go to bed.” he slumped into his forearms and let out an audible sigh. He was  _ very tired, the _ type of tired that couldn’t be dealt with just a goodnight sleep. 

Kagemi’s thumbs played with the rim of the ceramic. “If you want,” she started, her face still blank as ever, “I can make you a cup.”

Akira raised his head up, “you’d do that?” and she took an identical yunomi from the same cabinet, he blinked at her as she repeated the same steps as she did with her own then slid the cup across the counter. He stared at the liquid, steam hit his cold face causing his back to shiver. “You’re too kind…” he mumbled under his breath, Kagemi hummed and took a sip from her yunomi before setting it down. There was a pause of silence before anything was said.

“Don’t...say that, I’m not that kind.” she bent over and began drawing circles on the side of her yunomi, the ends of her silver hair relaxed on the counter “Whatever you say doesn’t really matter in the long-run.” she muttered as if to herself and took another sip of her tea, this time, the teenagers drank in sync.

Akira paused and pondered for a second, he shook his head, he wasn't going to say that and instead he uttered “Chamomile?” the girl’s eyes lit up.

“Looks like you know your tea.” and with that, they drank in comfortable silence.

Akira pulled out his phone as he sunk into his mattress. “Yogen-Jaya, Aoyama-Itchome, Transfer” he whispered to himself, eyes squinting at the screen while he scrolled, “It looks like I need to go out to Shibuya, then transfer there.” His finger stopped at a page that caught his eye, “More news about that subway accident” he let a sigh, “I bet this’ll affect the timetables for tomorrow too…” he clicked the home screen only to see the unusual red and black app. The colours were almost hypnotic.

‘I thought I erased it? I’ll reboot my phone just in case.’ Akira eyelids started to become heavy and he drifted off into a dreamless sleep. 

  
  


‘I have school starting today.’ Akira sat at the edge of his bed, already dressed in his Shujin uniform and adjusting his glasses, ‘Hopefully I can get there without getting lost…’ he swung his book bag over his arm and began walking towards the stairs. “I’ll just follow Kagemi-san...” the young man heard two people conversing and their voices became clearer when he saw them.

“Yes, Uncle Sojiro, you’ve told me this already.” Kagemi poked a piece of what Akira assumed was chicken, it was covered in some kind of curry sauce and steam was being emitted from the plate. “I’ll be fine…” she wore her shujin uniform however it wasn’t the normal girl’s uniform. Simply put, it was modified. She had a black jacket, a button up turtleneck that resembled a guy’s, and a black high-waisted pleated skirt with black tights underneath which reached below her knees. All with the iconic shujin upward arrows. He didn’t feel like questioning it. 

“Good morning.” the two heads turned to Akira who was walking towards the counter, Kagemi’s eyes never left his approaching figure.

“Oh, so you actually are going to school?” Sojiro stood behind the counter in his usual outfit plus an apron. “Here,” the man pushed an identical plate of curry and a glass of water in front of him, “Just make sure you finish it before the customers start coming in.”

“Curry…?” the teenager questioned blinking a few times.

“What’s that reaction for? Just eat it.”

Akira took a seat next to Kagemi who had just finished her plate, he let his book bag hang at the back of his chair. He still had a questionable look on his face, ‘Curry? For breakfast?’

Kagemi noticed his reaction and took her cup of water into her hands, averting her attention to the water, “In my opinion, Uncle’s curry is the best curry ever to exist.” Sojiro smiled fondly at her comment, “I mean, I’m not an expert critic or whatever. I just like it.”

Akira took a bite of the curry and froze, eyes wide. ‘...!? I can taste complex flavours within the bold spiciness!’ he looked between Sojiro and Kagemi who were still staring at him. “It’s really good.”

  
  


The two teenagers stood before the checkered glass door, it was stained glass so the light that was seeping through corresponded with the different colours. “It’s time for you two to go now.”

“Thank you for the meal.” they said in unison and bowed, Sojiro smiled slightly at the male.

“Huh, turns out you do have manners after all.” his face returned to neutral, “Hurry over to school. You’ll end up late if you get lost on the way, so stay close to Kagemi.”

Kagemi turned and opened the door, the chime sounding. Before they stepped one foot outside Sojiro spoke again. “Oh, Kagemi, flip the sign 

outside to ‘OPEN’ for me” the girl nodded and they left Leblanc. 

“Okay, now that that’s done, follow me.” as they walked to the train station, crows flew overhead. They walked by the locals and exchanged greetings, and Kagemi occasionally looked at her phone clock. 

  
  


To say the train was crowded was an understatement. It was packed like a tin of sardines with people in business suits and students alike. The two teenagers had to hug tightly to their book bags and tried to stay close together, there was an occasional bump on the tracks that made people sway into each other that is, if there was any space to sway.

‘There are so many people crammed into this tiny car’ Akira mentally sighed ‘It turns out the rumours about the Tokyo subway are true.’ he looked at Kagemi, who was looking up at the LCD screen and followed her line of sight.

“There are still some lingering effects of yesterday’s accident” Kagemi whispered, “I hope the people are okay…” an ungodly screeching was made by the train wheels, and it eventually came to a stop.

“Shibuya. This is Shibuya…” the doors opened and the teenagers, along with many other people, stepped out.

-*-

A random man in a suit sat at the barista counter who was watching the small screen television, Sojiro was standing behind the counter.

“Oh man… Did it say it was going to rain today?” the man asked Sojiro, who was spacing out.

“Huh? It’s raining outside?”

“It just started all of a sudden…” the man sighed “This is why I hate the early spring.”

Sojiro scratched the back of his head, “That reminds me… Did they take an umbrella…?”

“Hm? Who’re you talking about?” The man questioned but Sojiro waved it off with a chuckle.

“Don’t mind me. So, what’ll it be?”

“One house blend, please.” and with that the man paid attention to the screen again.

“The effects of yesterday’s subway accident continues on today as various lines suffer delays and...”

“There’s been a lot of nasty accidents lately. You know, I mean the subway accident that the news is talking about...My coworker got caught up in it and is in the hospital now.” the man moved his hand, “But that aside, it’s kinda creepy. The people who caused these accidents supposedly went crazy all of a sudden. I heard that some of them suffered from nervous breakdowns during interrogation.”

“Huh…” Sojiro frowned.

-*-

“Aoyama-Itchome. This is Aoyama-Itchome.”

The two teenagers were pushed out of the transfer train by the people who were crowded in. They managed to quickly move out of the way towards the stairs.

“It took some time, but we finally made it.” Akira spoke as they walked up the steps, but as soon as they were outside, a small droplet of water landed on them and a downpour followed. The teenagers quickly ran undercover outside a nearby shop, cold water splashed up their legs and when they were undercover their clothes were damp, not soaked but not dry either. They stood in a very shallow puddle of sakura petals. 

Kagemi looked into her bookbag and her shoulders slumped. “Do you have an umbrella? Akira-kun?” she adjusted her bookbag and Akira looked into his.

“No.” they both sighed. In front of them they saw students running in the rain, but with an umbrella in hand, they stood there for a minute or two before Kagemi looked around the street.

“I’m going to see if this shop has anything, I’ll be back quickly.” Kagemi quickly entered the random store they were standing outside of, the indoor chime sounded and she disappeared.

With nothing else to do, Akira looked at his phone. Specifically his GPS, and there it was again. The odd red and black app covered the screen and he sighed. The teenager could hear footsteps approaching him and he looked over beside him, a hooded person took shelter from the rain wiping away excess water from their sleeve. Their white jacket was under their black shujin blazer and they wore long red pants with a matching pair of sneakers. The person took off their hoody which covered their face, to reveal a young woman with wavy ash blonde hair that was tied into bushy pigtails. Her electric blue eyes stared at the rain that gradually became heavier by the second.

Akira stared at her like an idiot, as if he hadn’t seen a girl before.

The female noticed him staring and instead of saying anything she just smiled before returning her gaze to the rain with some unknown determination.

Suddenly, a white car pulled up at the side and the window lowered revealing a male teacher with curly black hair in a blue sport tracksuit. “Good morning. You want me to give you a ride to school? You’re gonna be late.” he asked the ash-blonde female.

“Um, sure. Thank you.” She walked towards the passenger seat and the teacher turned to Akira.

“Do you need a lift too?”

Akira declined his offer and before they drove off, the girl frowned and avoided anyone’s gaze.

A loud rhythmic pounding of feet was approaching Akira quickly, and before him a boy roughly his age stopped. “Dammit...Screw that pervy teacher.” he ran a hand through his artificial blond hair.

“Pervy teacher?” Akira repeated and without him noticing, the app was processing his words, the characters ‘Pervert Teacher’ appeared on the screen.

The blond turned to face him, he wore the shujin blazer but had an unusual yellow shirt with a red star at the centre of the shirt. “What do you want? You plannin’ on rattin’ me out to Kamoshida?” the boy approached him, a scowl on his face.

“Kamoshida?” Akira tilted his head.

The vulgar boy looked utterly confused with Akira’s question “Huh? In that car just now. It was Kamoshida.”

“Kamoshida is a teacher at our school,” the boys looked behind Akira to see Kagemi with an umbrella in one hand, expressionless “Hello, Sakamoto-san”

“Mizuhara-san?! Since when were you there?” The boy Kagemi called ‘Sakamoto-san’ took a step back but Kagemi ignored him and turned her attention to Akira.

“The store only had one umbrella” she showed it to Akira, “Here, you can have it.” 

Akira looked at the umbrella, it was a dark shade of grey that folded into itself and sprouted when you pressed a button. “It’s fine, you can use it Kagemi-san…” the girl stiffened.

“Are you sure? You’ll get wet.” and Akira nodded as some kind of reassurance. “Okay then…”

“I didn’ know you were friends with somebody Mizuhara-san…” The teenagers returned their attention to the vulgar boy who was still standing there.

“Oh, I forgot you were there.”

“I was still standin’ here y’know?!” the vulgar boy sighed, “Anyways,  _ Kamoshida  _ does whatever the hell he wants. Who does he think he is-the king of a caste? Don’t you agree?”

“The king of a castle…?” Akira blinked.

“Uh, it’s just a sayin’” there was a small pause of silence along with Kagemi opening the umbrella. “Wait. You don’t know Kamoshida? Are you for real? You’re from Shujin right?”

“You go to Shujin too?”

“What…? No other high school’s got a uniform like this.” His eyes drifted off to the small ‘2’ on the blazer as well as Kagemi who said nothing, “A second-year, huh. We’re in the same grade then,” his eyes squinted, “Never seen you before though.”

“That’s because he’s a transfer student.” Kagemi spoke up, she was clearly sick of this exchange.

“A transfer student? Why didn’t you say anythin’ earlier Mizuhara-san?”

“I thought you were going to reach that conclusion earlier, but I guess I overestimated you. Let’s go.” she told them but soon followed a head throbbing pain that affected the two boys.

“I feel light-headed for some reason.” Akira pressed the side of his head with a hand and the blond did the same.

“Are you guys okay?” Kagemi frowned at the two boys and Akira nodded.

“Ugh, my head hurts. Dammit I wanna go home…” The vulgar boy pushed past the pair and they followed behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Constructive criticism appreciated. :D


	7. 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that everyone has had a good New years and Christmas! I've been really busy during the holidays, sorry for the wait.
> 
> ALSO! I altered the shadows because let's be honest, I don't want to write about fighting floating pumpkins and so I have changed the appearance of shadows. Alright thanks :D

The three teenagers walked towards their school, they passed sakura trees that were in full bloom. If someone were to look up they’d only see the pink coloured flowers that swayed gently in the wind. Akira and Kagemi followed behind the vulgar boy to which Kagemi had called ‘Sakamoto-san.’ Apparently there was a shortcut to the school that entailed walking through a few alleys. Akira tucked away his phone and Kagemi closed the umbrella and shook it a few times causing water droplets to fly off.

“Go ahead.” she said and he did. Even in the alleyway the rain poured over them, however it wasn’t as bad as outside. The sound of the droplets were amplified as they fell into the ground. 

When the two boys walked over a large puddle they heard a heavy splash from behind. “Huh?” Akira turned around but there was no-one except Kagemi’s umbrella. He picked up the umbrella and frowned, “Kagemi-san?”

“Did she leave or somethin’?” the boy said behind him and shrugged. “I’m sure she’ll meet us at the school.” and with that the blond left Akira who was still staring at the umbrella. “Wha-?!” he shouted which caught Akira’s attention.

Akira walked up behind the blond who was staring up at something. In front of them was an aged structure that almost reached the clouds. The clouds were of an unnatural magenta and circled around the castle casting a purple glow onto the structure, it was fenced by large red and gold stone fences. The boys were minuscule compared to this thing.

“Did we come the wrong way?” Akira asked and the boys looked behind them. 

“No way! I come through here on most days...this should be right.” he faced Akira, “I guess we’ll just have to go and ask.” The boys walked beside each other in sync, towards the inside of the castle where they had to cross a medieval drawbridge.

“Th-That’s weird...Where’s the school?” the blond stuttered, “And where the hell’s Mizuhara-san?!” they entered a giant foyer that had towering stone pillars which held up the ceiling, odd paintings that framed the walls and chandeliers which decorated the room. They stood on a velvet red carpet which was like a pathway into different directions, the arched windows provided some kind of light in the dim foyer, yet there was still no sign of Kagemi.

“Where are we?” Akira asked from behind, doubting the blond’s sense of direction as he scanned the foyer.

“This  _ should _ be the school...I think.” The blond even doubted himself for a second before taking out his phone. “Out of service? Where’d we end up then?” he tucked away his phone and scanned the room as well, “The sign was for the school right?”

“Yeah.” Akira scratched his head and the boy suddenly raised his voice.

“Right?! You saw it too!”

_ Clang. Clang.  _ The sound of pounding metal diverted the attention of the two boys towards it. Walking towards them was a guard in full grey gear, a sharp sword that reflected the dim light in one hand and a shield that was almost the same height as the medieval knight. 

“Geez, you freaked me out…” the blond clutched onto his yellow shirt before letting go, “Who’re you? You a student?” the boy began walking towards the knight leaving Akira behind, he looked up and down at the knight. “Man, your costume’s impressive...Is that armour real?”

The knight just stood silently, its mask covering any signs of facial expressions.

“C’mon, don’t just stand there. Say somethin’” then out of the darkness another metal soldier appeared beside it. It had an identical appearance. “H-hey, what’s goin’ on?” the blond stuttered.

“Is he school staff?” Akira took a step back.

“Dude- I don’t know!” the knights came closer towards the boys, “This shit’s real. C-Calm down! Time out man!” one of the knights took a final step forward before raising his sword over the blond who couldn’t move his feet and it came down on him.

“Let’s run!” Akira grabbed the blond’s arm and turned back to where they entered from, but the pair was stopped by more guards.

“Ugh, what’s with these guys?!” The knight from behind striked the blond with their shield, causing him to yelp and his knees toppled over. “Oww… Y-you’re gonna break my bones, dammit!”

Akira felt the force of a shield collide with his fluffy head, knocking him out almost instantly.

“Take them away!” a low booming voice growled and everything turned dark. 

\--

“Hey...Hey wake up!”

Akira eye’s struggled to open and adjust from the change of scenery. He held his head tightly as he leaned over the edge of a wooden bed. His eyes directed to the brick floor and then he scanned the room. “I think I just had a concussion…”

There was no light other than the torches which lit up the hallway outside but were blocked by iron bars, chains and all types of metal restraints hung from the ceiling and wooden barrels sat at the corner of the room. Standing next to him was the blond, vulgar boy he had followed. The boy scratched the back of his head, “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“I see, seems like this ain’t no dream” he kicked an imaginary rock, “Ugh, what’s goin’ on?!” he charged to the iron bars and shook them vigorously. “Hey, let us outta here! I know there’s someone out there!” He pushed the bars away and trudged back to Akira, “Dammit, where are we?! Is this some kinda TV set…?”

“I don’t kno-” Akira was cut off by the noise of someone screaming their lungs out and he stood from his bed. The boys looked at each other then headed to the cell door.

“Th-The hell was that just now…?” the blond stuttered, they couldn’t make out the noises that came from outside all they knew was that someone was in immense pain. Torture. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…” he took a step back, “You’re shittin’ me, right?” he turned his back to the metal bars, his eyes darting around the cell. “Isn’t there some way outta here?! C’mon, we gotta do something!”

The two teenagers frantically searched the room for anything yet there was nothing that could help them. “Dammit, this doesn’t even make any sense!”

_ Thump. Thump. _

“Huh? You hear that?” the blond’s eyes widened.

“Yeah…” Akira gulped.

Time had run out.

“Be glad that your punishment has been decided upon” the boys turned their heads to see four identical bulky armour approaching them, “Your charge is ‘unlawful entry.’ Thus, you will be sentenced to death”

“Say what?!” 

“No one’s allowed to do as they please in my castle.” a deep but familiar voice spoke from behind the wall of knights as they cleared a path for them. The man wore a red and white fluffy cloak, a small crown that sat on his curly black hair and was barefoot. Their yellow eyes piercing through the prisoners.

“Huh? Wait…” the blond held tightly to the bars and squinted his eyes, “Is that you, Kamoshida?”

“Kamoshida?” Akira whispered to the blond.

“I thought it was some petty thief, but to think it’d be you, Sakamoto.” Kamoshida gave a slanted grin and spoke in a low voice “Are you trying to disobey me again? It looks like you haven’t learned your lesson at all, huh?” he then turned to Akira, “And you brought a friend this time… because you can’t do anything for yourself.”

“This ain’t funny, you asshole!”

“Is that how you speak to a king?! It seems you don’t understand the position you’re in at all. Not only did you sneak into my castle, you committed the crime of insulting me-the king. The punishment for that is death” his face scrunched and raised an arm to his guards revealing nothing underneath his cloak except for underwear “It’s time for an execution! Take him out!”

“S-stop it...!” Sakamoto took multiple steps backwards until he was backed into a wall separating him from Akira. “Goddammit…!” he charged like a bull into one of the guards causing them to fall over, “I ain’t down for this shit! C’mon we’re outta here!” He shouted at Akira but before they could do anything Sakamoto was kicked in the stomach by the other guard. He held onto his stomach, knees hitting the ground and wheezed in pain.

Akira grabbed onto the guard in front of him and tried to push him aside but it didn’t budge, Sakamoto noticed this and tried to speak up.

“Just go! Get outta here! These guys are serious!”

“Oh? Running away, are we?” Kamoshida placed a hand on his hip, “What a heartless friend you are.”

“He ain’t a friend.” Sakamoto panted heavily, “C’mon! Hurry up and go!” Akira didn’t move whatsoever.

“What’s the matter? Too scared to run away? Hmph, pathetic scum isn’t worth my time.” Kamoshida spat, “I’ll focus on this one’s execution…” he smiled sadistically at Sakamoto.

Two of the medieval guards held Sakamoto by his arms against the mossy brick wall, Kamoshida held a fist in front of him.  “Take this!” the adult’s fist slammed into the side of Sakamoto’s face and he repeatedly did this, spitting insults into the boy’s face. Akira was backed up onto the opposite side, a guard pointing its sharpened sword at his neck. Sakamoto’s legs buckled and he laid flat on the brick floors. “Hmph. Where’d your energy from earlier go? A peasant like you isn’t worth beating.” the guard chucked him into the side of the room, “I’ll have you killed right now.”

Akira gritted his teeth, a boiling fury began to swell. “Stop it!” 

“Hm?” Kamoshida focused his attention on the raven-black haired boy, “What…? Don’t you dare tell me you don’t know who I am.” the man paced towards him and stuck his face out. “That look in your eye irritates me!” he then shoved Akira back with his barefoot into the wall. “Hold him there…” 

The guards paying attention to Akira shoved him back into the wall, it only took one each arm to hold him down. Kamoshida turned to Sakamoto, “After the peasant...it’ll be his turn to die.”

“No...I don’t wanna die!” Sakamoto struggled to get up, Kamoshida raised his chin to the ceiling and let out a maniacal laugh.

*

“This is truly an unjust game…” a soft voice spoke out, “Your chances of winning are almost none.” a blue butterfly fluttered across Akira's face and his eyes widened, “But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you.” it disappeared into thin air.

*

“What’s the matter?” a completely different voice overtook the softer one, it was a deep male voice. “Are you simply going to watch?” Akira looked around the cell no one else was speaking. Was he going crazy? He began to sweat bullets “Are you forsaking him to save yourself? Death awaits him if you do nothing.” the voice paused, “Was your previous decision a mistake then?” Akira’s mind flashed back to when he had saved the woman that one night.

“It wasn’t” he said under his breath.

Sakamoto was being held up by a guard just exactly like that masked girl, he was pulling the large gauntlet outward by it useless. The guard raised its sword and pointed it towards his neck.

Akira felt a surge of burning pain, his body began to move and struggle in the guards' grasp. “Very well… I have headed your resolve.” As soon as the being said that the pain increased, Akira could feel the pain drumming in his head. He began letting out an uncontrollable scream and tears began to spill down his face. The pain was unbearable. 

“Vow to me.” the voice paused, Akira’s fists clenched his nails digging into his palms still screaming in agony “I am thou, thou art I...Thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice! Call upon my name, and release thy rage!” Akira let out a scream that hurt his lungs but the being kept speaking “Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!” the pain ceased yet his rage didn’t.

“Execute him!” Kamoshida pointed towards Sakamoto.

“That’s enough!” the adult and the guard turned their heads to Akira. The guard released its grip on Sakamoto who coughed for fresh air. 

Unbeknownst to the people in the room, an outsider was watching the events unfold; smiling inconspicuously.

“You desire to be killed that much? Fine!” Kamoshida gestured to the guard to the left of Akira, raised its shield and slammed it into the teenager’s face. His glasses falling off and the glass shattered into a million pieces. He was shoved into the wall, swords crossed over his neck and eyes closed.

Sakamoto tried to push himself up but his body refused to, he ended up dropping back down again in a slumped sitting position his eyes drifted to the exit to see a shadow of a figure. He was about to say something but the figure silently protested by raising a finger to her lips.

The third guard raised their sword, the tip glistened brightly. However, before it could move an inch, Akira’s eyes opened. An amplified pulse was sounded, causing a gust of wind to circle around Akira. The guards lost their balance as they were pushed backwards, Kamoshida braced with his arm.

Akira let out his breath he didn’t realise he was holding, he raised his head and felt a sudden urge to feel his face. He tapped the thing that occupied his face, it was as if it was glued onto his skin. The thing was a white birdlike domino mask with black designs around the eye areas. He tried to take the mask off however it was still stuck, pulling on his skin. He walked on top of his own feet trying to take it off and he eventually took the edge of the mask with both hands and ripped it off his face with a scream of agony. A mask of blood splattered everywhere and dripped down his face. He looked forward with a wide smile spread across his face, his eyes were a golden yellow filled with an endless rage and determination. Another gust of wind circled around him, however it was stronger than the last. His body was engulfed in flickering blue flames which slowly took over his body. An orange flame created a sharp smile and it laughed. 

Kamoshida stepped away from the teenager and his legs froze. The blue flame removed itself from Akira whose attire completely changed. Chains pulled themselves upwards with the blue flames and out appeared a floating being twice the height of Akira. Its short pointy red coat flickered like its flames, the ruffled collar button up covered its neck with a black high neck waistcoat on top. A sharp metal head had a pointy orange-flame smirk and was adorned with a pair of long horns with a jet black top hat.

Akira’s clothes contrasted the being behind him, a black ankle length tailcoat synced with the gusts of wind. A dark grey high neck waistcoat was under the coat, he had a dark pair of pants which he stood shoulder width apart in and crimson red gloves which he opened wide with his arms. As if on his command the demonic being opened its crimson red wings and the chains which were uplifted flew around him adding a stronger flurry of wind.

The guards and Kamoshida crashed into the walls and cell bars. The supposed king and guards scrambled to their feet but they were frozen. Sakamoto was still slumped against the wall, his eyes reflected the blue flames that were still circled around the pair. “Wha...What the…?” the blond managed to speak.

“I am the pillager of twilight- ‘Arsène’!” His wings opened once more as he announced himself, “I am the rebel’s soul that resides within you.” Arsène placed a slim but sharp ‘hand’ over his heart and spoke to Akira, “If you so desire, I shall consider granting you the power to break through this crisis.”

“Give me your power.” Akira responded.

“Hmph, very well.”

Kamoshida stood with his guards in front of the cell door, “Who the hell are you?! Guards!” Kamoshida pointed towards the young man, “Start by killing that one!” The guards twitched violently, and their masks began to fall engulfing themselves in red and black as they turned into monsters that could only be seen in fiction. They were floating creatures of darkness which flickered and growled like wild beasts. The forms that they took were incomprehensible and stared into the soul of Akira with their white flame-like eyes. “You’ll learn the true strength of my men!”

“Detest the enemies before you! Change that animosity into power and unleash it!” Arsène growled and Akira commanded it to his will.

Akira began to target one of the floating monsters “Now!” he shouted and Arsène engulfed them in a dark yet thick mist, the enemies screeched as they began to wither away. With the remaining strength that the monsters had, it swung their claws at Akira but he managed to dodge them; feeling something sharp in his pocket. He pulled it out to find a medium-sized blade, it was light but strong.

“Swing your blade!” Arsène suggested and Akira did so, he experimented with it and was able to cut the enemies down. “This power of mine is yours! Kill them however you want. Run wild to your heart’s content!”


	8. 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while so... Two chapters today :D
> 
> I was being really indecisive with Kagemi's initial persona at first so it took me a while to adjust things. I've also written a small glossary at the end notes highlighted at [number] for some terms that I've used. Thank you!

After taking down the enemies with ease Akira stood before the wide eyed Sakamoto, the mask that he had ripped off earlier was now adorned on his face.

“What…” the blond thought for a second while Akira admired his outfit change, “What was that just now…”

“You little…” Kamoshida stomped towards the boys, his face scrunched and eyes twitching. But before he could say or do anything more the hidden figure Sakamoto saw earlier swiftly opened the cell door and kicked him into the wall with their weapon in hand, they bent over to pick up the keys to the cell. 

Sakamoto stood up and shouted at the adult, “Hah! You like that, you son of a bitch!”

“C’mon let’s lock the cell.” The masked figure pulled Sakamoto with her and Akira followed behind, she slammed the cell door and locked it with the key, “Okay, it’s locked.”

“Damn you!” Kamoshida grabbed hold of the bars.

“Hey…! What was that just now?!” Sakamoto turned to face Akira, “And… your clothes…!”

In a blue flame his outfit changed back into his school uniform, and the masked person seemed more surprised than Sakamoto. “They went back to normal?” they whispered to themself but yelped when the blond grabbed them by their silver scarf.

“You! You didn’t do anythin’ except watch! The least we deserve is an explanation-” The blond was cut off when the masked person, who Akira saw was a young woman, pushed him off her.

“I wasn’t watching, I was observing. Big difference. But it's good I found you two.” she stepped back to face Akira, “Who would’ve known that you were the other bound by the contract.” she placed a hand over her ryū[1] shaped mask, and took it off revealing light-brown eyes which he immediately recognised. Then he noticed her unique hair and mentally face-palmed. There was something about wearing a mask that concealed her identity, as if she was a complete stranger.

She wore a black mask with white whiskers which curved back along with its dark horns. She wore a sleeveless qipao[2] top that was black in colour with the outline of a ryū embroidered in a stunning silver thread; curling over her shoulder. The top being accompanied by a navy button-up bullet vest and steel bracers embedded with intricate designs. A short-sleeved jacket rested on her shoulders which had its sharp collar upturned and her knee high boots were worn over her dark tights. The only thing that seemed out of place was the silver coloured scarf adorned with golden constellations which wrapped around her neck.

“Kagemi-san.” she nodded but their little exchange was cut short.

“You bastards!” the cells shook, the boys were startled but Kagemi stared blankly at the adult. She then hastily placed her mask back on. 

“I’ll explain everything I know later, but we gotta get out of here. Follow me.” she ran off with the boys tailing her.

“God, this’s effin’ nuts!”

“Goddamn thieves! After them! Don’t let them escape!” Kamoshida shouted from behind.

-*-

The boys ran behind Kagemi until they reached a locked gate, Sakamoto ran past and charged at the door. “It ain’t openin’?!” 

“We have to go through another way. Follow me.” Kagemi turned to what looked like a broken bridge over a river and jumped across. Her movements were light even when she landed, her scarf flowed behind her. “What are you waiting for?” the boys looked at each other and jumped across with Sakamoto almost slipping, Akira managed to pull him up.

“Thanks…”

They ran through the dungeons trying to find places to escape and whenever they heard bad company was nearby they hid in the shadows.

“They’re lookin’ for us, right? Why don’t you just fight ‘em Mizuhara-san?” Sakamoto asked the girl in question, who scoffed.

“It’s because they’re difficult to take on alone and with Akira-kun being unstable from his contract it’ll only be harder to protect everyone.” They kept quiet for most of the run until they reached a giant arched wooden door.

“Is this... the exit?” Sakamoto panted.

“Only one way to find out.” Akira commented, then swiftly burst open the door with his body only to reveal an area similar to the one that they came from except the ‘river’ was larger than before.

As they continued making their way through the castle they saw caged prisoners calling out for help, however Kagemi said to just ignore them and to keep running. It felt like an endless maze.

“That thing has to be here somewhere…” 

“Where the hell are we going?!” Ryuji exclaimed, “Are you even taking us to the exit?!”

“No, but I will.” Kagemi whispered back harshly, “While I was searching for you two I came across something rather intriguing…” The group stopped.

“Another dead end?” Akira whispered to himself

“Not quite.” Kagemi added.

“Kagemi-san, what exactly are we looking for-”

“Hey, you there.” a high-pitched boyish voice called out cutting off Akira, “Blondie! Frizzy Hair! Look over here!” they turned to the person in the cell. However it wasn’t exactly a person.

“What is this thing?!” Sakamoto pointed at the catlike creature with a black body, a white muzzle and socks. It was very short and stood on its two legs like a person, wrapped around its neck was a yellow bandana.

“You’re not soldiers of this caste, right? Get me out of here- Wait a sec!” the strange creature’s eyes widened with a gasp of betrayal, “You’re that Dragon Face that blew me off earlier!”

“Dragon Face?” Akira questioned Kagemi who answered with a silent tap on her mask. “Oh.”

“You know it’s rude not to help people in need.” It huffed, “But I’ll forgive you if you let me out. Look, the key is right there!” its small paw pointed to the hanging key.

Sakamoto shoved his hands into his pockets, “We’re trying to get the hell out of here! I mean, you obviously look like an enemy too!”

“Seriously…” Akira sweatdropped, sure it was an odd creature but it couldn’t be an enemy, could it? “I think we should let the cat speak.”

“I am NOT a cat! Say that again and I’ll make you regret it!” the stomping of troops was heard nearby.

“They’re catchin’ up already…!” the blond pulled out his phone, “Shit, there’s still no service. Ain’t there any way to contact someone outside?! How the hell do we get out-”

Kagemi grabbed the key from its place and bent down to the creature’s level, “Do you know where  _ another  _ exit is? If you do, I’ll consider letting you out.”

The creature nodded, “Deal.” Kagemi stood up and began to unlock the cell.

“Can you really help us?” Akira said to the creature.

“I never go back on my word!” with a click the cell was open.

“This thing sounds like it’s all talk…” Sakamoto trailed off, but the creature heard him.

“If you guys think you can get out on your own, then be my guest!” the creature bounced out.

“We need its help, we can’t just waltz out the front door after all.” Akira told Sakamoto who just huffed in annoyance.

“Agreed. It’s mainly because of the security and so,” Kagemi placed the key back and looked at the catlike creature. “we need another strategy.”

“Ahhh...Freedom tastes so great…” the creature stretched its limbs.

“Now where’s the exit you monster cat?” Sakamoto said and the creature turned sharply and pouted.

“Don’t call me a cat! I am Morgana!”

“Shuddup and hurry it up! You wanna be locked up again?!”

“A-All right, sheesh!” Morgana stuttered, “Follow me, and stay quiet.”

The group stood before a raised bridge, next to it was a large stone bust of Kamoshida. Morgana approached the statue.

“What’re you doin’?” Sakamoto questioned looking at the creature.

“I assume he’s lowering the bridge.” Kagemi said in monotone as she watched Morgana turn around.

“Wow, looks like someone has brains in this group. You, Frizzy Hair.” he turned to Akira, “It seems like both you and Dragon face over there pick up things faster than our Blondie here. I let you lower the bridge, try checking the statue.” Morgana stepped aside to let Akira through.

“Even though we agreed to a deal, Morgana, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t assume Sakamoto-san lacked any brains.” Akira heard Kagemi calmly scold the cat who crossed its furry limbs.

“But it’s true though, you’re a group of amateu- okay! I’ll stop!” The creature frantically waved its paws at Kagemi’s composed yet chilling glare.

Meanwhile, Akira had figured out the stature and he pulled down the jaw. Gears began to move and with a thud the bridge was connected.

“How were we supposed to know to do that?!” Ryuji’s mouth gaped at the open bridge.

Morgana huffed, “Hmph, amate- Amazing! I said amazing!” Morgana cleared its throat before heading forwards, “Come on, let’s keep going!” The group ran across the bridge to the other side but as soon as they did a group of guards appeared from a different hallway.

“A-Aah! Shit...Shit, it’s them!” Sakamoto lost balance and fell, he crawled backwards from the guard. Blue flames once again circled Akira but it wasn’t as explosive as before, he looked down at himself to see the strange attire.

“Stay still!” Morgana jumped over the blond, “Hey you two! You can fight, right?” Kagemi and Akira nodded at the creature, “Let’s go! Come, Zorro!” Morgana called and out of blue flames behind him came the being he called ‘Zorro.’ The being wore full armour that puffed his chest out, it wore a long dark coat on top of it’s armour and created a ‘Z’ with it’s rapier.

“Y-You got one of those things too?!” Sakamoto crawled even further back, the guards, just like the others, were engulfed in red and black which transformed it into an unusual dark monster.

“Hmph.” Morgana crossed his limbs, “we will promptly shut them up! Fight like your lives depends on it!”

Akira tightened his gloves and Kagemi adjusted her scarf in unison, “Alright!”

“Arsène!” Akira shouted and the being appeared out of blue flames and targeted the enemy, “There!” The words came naturally as Arsène sent a wave of deadly shadows towards it, the shadows encircled it; eating away at the monster. Arsène swiftly flew towards it to shove it’s sharp arm directly through the monster’s body. Once the shadows had cleared, it dissipated into thin air. 

“Strike at an enemy’s weakness, we’ll use that opening to strike again!” Morgana commented and the pair nodded.

Kagemi nodded, “Mulan![3]” behind her was another being who appeared out of blue flames. Mulan had the appearance similar to a person, they had ghostly white skin with upturned eyes that were an orange-yellow colour similar to Arsène’s. They had long pitch black hair that was tied back and their right eye was covered by a chunk of it, a deep blue ancient armour adorned their figure and it held a jian[4] in its right hand, their bare feet stood in the middle of a never-ending wave which circled them. A serpent-like dragon stretching out from behind the persona, its scales were a stunning colour of celestial lapis blue.

“Y-you too Mizuhara-san?! What’s with the dragon motifs?” Sakamoto squeaked.

“Destroy them!” Mulan waved their blade in a powerful motion, creating a rushing swirl of wind and destructive flood of water before thrusting the devastating force into the enemy. They shrieked in pain as their bodies slowly deteriorated by the force and were struggling to regain their position.

“I’ll finish ‘em off before they can attack! Zorro!” Morgana commanded the being and it rushed towards the enemy, gracefully slicing them down with its rapier. Once the enemies turned to nothing, the group took time to catch their breath, Sakamoto joined them from his hiding spot. “Not bad. Your Personas are pretty powerful.” Morgana complimented them.

“Persona…?” Sakamoto repeated, “Y’mean that thing that comes outta you guys all dramatic-like?”

“Oh right, you don’t know about Personas...” Kagemi paused, “Well, remember when Akira-kun ripped off his mask when he summoned it, right?” Sakamoto nodded as Kagemi explained in her monotone voice, “It’s sort of like a manifestation of our-” in between her explanation Akira reverted back to his uniform.

“Huh? He turned back to normal…” Sakamoto murmured.

“It looks like you don’t have full control over your power yet.” Morgana commented, “The transformation shouldn’t normally dissolve like that. Take Dragon face for example. After all-”

Sakamoto groaned, “That’s enough! This crap doesn’t make any sense!”

“Can’t you just sit still and listen for once, Blondie?!”

“Don’t call me Blondie! My name’s Ryuji…”

“Actually,” Kagemi said with a finger placed on her chin, “there’s no time for us to talk,” she turned to the creature, “Morgana, we made a deal remember.”

“R-Right, we should hurry. It’s not much farther to the other exit.”

They ran through dim-lighted hallways, locked rooms that were guarded by large wooden doors and empty cells.

Until they passed one.

“Hold on a sec!” Ryuji stopped the group and approached a cell with a person who was lying flat on the ground, he struggled to get up. “I feel like I’ve seen what this dude’s wearin’ before…” he kicked the ground, “Dammit! I’m too flustered! I can’t remember a damn thing!”

“Come on, let’s go!” Morgana called out to Ryuji, he was still looking at the cell.

“Hold on, dammit!”

“Sakamoto-san, we have to hurry.” Akira approached the blond.

“But...who are these guys?” Ryuji’s face frowned.

Morgana sighed, “Do you really think you have time to worry about other people right now?! Besides, they’re-”

“There!” an armoured soldier alerted his comrades and the raised bridge suddenly connected with the other side.

“You should’ve listened to me!” Morgana fidgeted with his bandana.

“Let’s fight.” After Akira said that his clothes changed again, the catlike creature smiled.

“I’m glad you stuck to your guns.” 

In mere seconds, the guards was defeated and Morgana wiped off any dust on his fur. “All right! Let’s get away before more show up!”

“Hold on, we can’t just leave these guys here!” Ryuji pointed at the guy in the cell, both Morgana and Kagemi face-palmed.

“Sakamoto-san… there really isn’t much time to worry about him.” Kagemi let out an exasperated sigh, arms crossed over.

“You really don’t get it, do you?” Morgana sighed, “There’s no time to explain. Look, I’m going. If you don’t want to follow, be my guest!” the creature ran across the bridge with Akira and Kagemi following.

“Dammit… Fine, I’m coming!”

-*-

“The entrance hall is right above here! The exit’s close… Keep it up!” Morgana and company continued running until they entered a dark hallway, there were no candles. It was just dark. “We’re here!”

“Finally! We’re saved!” Ryuji let out a breath of relief and ran to the first door he could see, the door knob didn’t turn. “...It’s not openin’!” he turned to the catlike creature, “D’you trick us, you jerk?!”

“Don’t jump to conclusions!” Morgana smiled, “Over here!” the creature went through the door on the opposite side of Ryuji.

“H-hey, wait up!” It was another dim-lighted room, the group couldn’t see much in the room except for maybe a table and bookshelf, there were no windows. “Where are we supposed to get out from here?! There aren’t even any windows!”

“Ugh, amateur.” Morgana audibly sighed flinching when it felt a cold gaze, “T-this is the most basic of basics.”

“A ventilation shaft?” Akira looked to the metal mesh which separated the shaft and the room.

“Exactly what I was thinking” Kagemi approached the vent and unlatched her naginata but Morgana stopped her.

“I don’t think you should do that in a small area like this, you might slice more than that shaft.”

“Then, we just gotta get that metallic mesh off without beating the shit out of it.” Ryuji began to prepare himself, “And a one, and a-” he began to attempt a run and jump on top of the bookshelf which was under the vent.

The group was caught by surprise and Akira tried to warn him, “Careful! You might-” but the blond did it anyways and fell with the metallic mesh with a crash, “...nevermind.”

“Crap! The enemy didn’t hear us, did they?” Ryuji whispered loudly that it couldn’t even be considered a whisper.

“There’s no point whispering now, they’re already at the door.” Akira pointed at the door causing the blond to scramble to his feet, Akira and Morgana tried to suppress a laugh.

“Not funny man!” he sighed heavily, “Seriously, we’re finally getting out of here!”

“You should wait on celebrating until you actually get out,” Morgana spoke, “Now, get going.”

“But… what about you?”

“There’s something that I still have to do. We’re going our separate ways.”

“Thanks.” Akira and Kagemi thanked in unison.

“Don’t get captured again Morgana.” Kagemi added.

“Don’t you worry, I’m Morgana I’ll be fine!” Morgana placed both paws on his hips, completely ignoring Kagemi who murmured a ‘I’m not worried.’ “Anywho, be careful on your way out.” ” Morgana rubbed a paw underneath his button nose.

The teenagers hopped onto the bookshelf, the boys went first then Kagemi followed from behind and out they went. “They seem useful… Especially the frizzy-haired and dragon face if my judgement's right…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] Ryū: I've decided to use the Japanese word here, I felt that the word dragon didn't fit well with the aesthetic or smth purely because I normally associate the word dragon with western ones.
> 
> [2] Qipao: Also known as Cheongsam, "It is a high-necked, closefitting dress with the skirt slit partway up the side." However here instead of a dress, it's a top.
> 
> [3] Mulan: Now I know what you're thinking - the Disney princess - BUT NO! :D I've sort of chosen to create my own version of the folklore 'Hua Mulan' as in by appearance and the supernatural aspects of the persona. However, the Hua Mulan persona fundamentally has a similar story i.e. (You don't have to read all of this) she is a "legendary folklore heroine...who took her aged father's place in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as a man. After prolonged and distinguished military service against nomadic hordes beyond the northern frontier, Mulan is honoured by the emperor but declines a position of high office."
> 
> [4] Jian: a double-edged sword that is to be a multipurpose cut and thrust weapon capable of stabbing, as well as making both precise cuts and slashes, as opposed to specialising in one form


	9. 8

The three teenagers stood in the middle of a pathway, there were normal buildings and normal people, no fictional creatures and no castle in sight. They were panting heavily, their hands either on their knees or hips as they tried to calm down from the adrenaline. 

“Did we make it…?” Ryuji asked, removing his palms from his knees and looking at his surroundings. They straightened up and Akira pulled out his phone.

“You have returned to the real word. Welcome back.” A navigation voice spoke from his phone.

“Huh? Returned…?” Ryuji turned to look at the phone. “Does that mean we got away?”

Akira pocketed his phone, “Probably.” Kagemi did a 360 degree turn before speaking to the boys.

“Yeah we’re back.”

Ryuji sighed and scratched his blond head, “I dunno what to think anymore…” he dug his hands into his pockets, “What was all that anyways? That castle, and Kamoshida, and that weird cat! The hell was goin’ on?!”

Kagemi pinched the bridge of her nose “Sakamoto-san, I’ll explain later but for now, we need to-”

“What’s with all the yelling?” A tall police officer and his stubby colleague walked towards the group of students, they looked at the teenager’s uniforms, “Are you students of Shujin? Cutting classes are we?”

Ryuji was the first to step forward, “Huh? No! We were tryin’ to get to school, and we ended up at this weird castle!”

The stubby police officer frowned, “What?” he sighed, “Hand over your bag. You better not be doing any drugs.”

“Why would you think tha-” Kagemi stomped on Ryuji’s foot, causing him to yelp and grab onto it.

“I’m sorry on the behalf of my classmate here.” she covered the side of her mouth as if to block her voice from reaching the blond, “He's a bit… different and often confuses dreams with reality. I assure you he is not on drugs,” she inhaled softly and removed her hand from her face, “we ran into a lot of inconveniences on our way to school.” Kagemi spoke, her expression apathetic as ever and the police couldn’t exactly pick out the lies in her half-truth. The pair looked at each other and shrugged.

“Are you his friends?” the taller police officer alternated between Kagemi and Akira.

“Something like that.” Akira spoke up.

“Then you should go to school. Take him with you.” Ryuji let go of his foot.

“Like I’m tryin’ to say! I don’t know what’s goin’ on either- Ow! Will you stop that!” Ryuji hissed at the girl and grabbed his foot again.

“We passed by Shujin on our way here.” The stubby officer crossed his arms, leaning on one foot and directed his attention to. “There was nothing out of the ordinary about it. If you spout any more nonsense, I’ll contact your school. Is that what you want?”

Ryuji spoke through gritted teeth, “C’mon, say somethin’!”

“No sir,” Kagemi bowed to the officers, “Come on, I don’t want to be any more late.” the girl walked off on her own leaving the two boys behind.

“What-” 

“Let’s get going.” Akira seized Ryuji’s arm, dragging him away from the officers.

“W-Wait a sec! Are you guys for real…?” Ryuji pulled away from his grasp, “Fine, I’m goin’!”

-*-

The SIU Director rested in his wheeled leather office chair, he leaned his chin against his intertwined hands and he frowned at his dark wooden desk. “A Minister of Transport announcing his resignation…” he muttered to himself then chuckled leaning back into his chair, “Things are going as planned.” His mood changed quickly, from a smile to a large frown. “Sae Niijima… That reminds me…” he sighed into his hand, “Better leave it be for now.”

-*-

The three teenagers eventually made it to their school, it was normal and plain with nothing out of the ordinary.

“Is this for real?” Ryuji ran a hand through his blond hair, “I’m sure we came the same way… Mizuhara-san, What’s goin’ on here…?” The girl with them sighed and gave him an indifferent blink.

“That’s exactly what I wanted to ask you.” The teenagers looked up to see a middle-aged counselor in a grey business suit standing at the top of the steps, he was not amused by their arrival, “We received a call from the police.”

“That damn cop snitched on us after all!” Ryuji dug his hands into his pockets.

Akira heard Kagemi click her tongue. ‘Of course they did.’ she thought then whispered “How vexing…” 

“It’s rare not to see you alone. Where were you roaming around until this time?” The counselor crossed his arms over his chest, his foot tapping the ground.

“Uh… a ca- a castle?” Ryuji stuttured, the other teenagers mentally face-palmed and Kagemi mumbled an ‘idiot.’

The counselor raised an eyebrow, “So, you have no intention of giving an honest answer?”

“What’s this about a ‘castle’?” a different but familiar voice interrupted their exchange. A brawny adult exited the school, his neon stopwatch and whistle swung left and right as he walked up to the counselor.

“Kamoshida?!” Ryuji gasped and took a step back, his eyebrows were frowned and eyes were wide as golf balls.

“You seem so carefree, Sakamoto. Quite a difference from when you did morning practice for the track team.”

Ryuji’s fists clenched, “Shuddup! It’s your fault that-”

“How dare you speak that way to Mr. Kamoshida!” The counselor scolded the blond and sighed, “There’s not much leeway left for you, you know?”

“He’s the one that provoked me!”

“Do you really want to be expelled? In any case, you’ll have to explain yourself! Follow me!”

“What?! This is bullshit!”

Kamoshida turned to the counselor with a toothy smile, “Come now, I should have been more considerate, too. Let’s just say that we were both to blame.”

“Well, if you say so…” He scratched the back of his head, “Still, you’re coming with me. It’s undeniable that you’re extremely late.” he then faced Kagemi, his arms crossed again. “This also applies to you, Mizuhara-san, your tardiness is unusual for a decent student like you. I hope you are not associating yourself with bad influences.”

Kagemi quickly bowed, even her sweatdrop could not disturb the apathetic face that she wore through the entire conversation. “I understand sir, however, I can’t go with you. I must keep an eye on Akira-kun as much as I can.” The girl took a breath to gather her words quickly to form a valid excuse, “Due to these circumstances, I find it more reasonable to tell you now that both myself and Akira-kun had trouble with transport, especially since the recent incidents with the subway.” The girl bowed again this time remaining in her position. The counselor stared at her blankly, the tapping of his foot quickened then stopped abruptly with a sigh.

“You may raise yourself, Mizuhara-san,” he let out an exasperated sigh, “I understand your situation Mizuhara-san and for that I will cut you some slack, but know that if anything like this happens again it will not be tolerated.”

“Yes sir.”

While following the counselor into the school, Ryuji bit his tongue and glared at Kamoshida. Then there were three.

“By the way…” Kamoshida placed both hands on his hips, “You’re that new transfer student, correct? Akira Kurusu…” the teacher looked up at the sky “Have we met somewhere?” there was a moment of silence, Kagemi frowned.

“I saw a girl in your car.” Akira replied, causing Kagemi to blink repeatedly a few times. She turned her head slowly to the frizzy-haired male.

Kamoshida scratched his head, “That’s right… I remember now. Well, I’ll overlook this just for today.” The teacher’s frown deepened and his nose scrunched, “I’m sure you’ve heard from the principal, but cause any trouble and you’ll be expelled. Understand?”

“Can you overlook more?”

Kamoshida crossed his arms, “Is that supposed to be a joke? I’m not laughing.” the teacher released his frown then his eyes met the girl next to Akira, “Ah that’s right, Mizuhara-san is… escorting you was it? I guess the statement ‘it takes one to know one’ still stands.” he chuckled. Kagemi sent a chilling glare that was only ignored by the teacher, “If you want Mizuhara-san, I can make sure you-”

“Sir, I’m sure Ms. Kawakami is waiting for our arrival. Now excuse us, we must be going to the faculty office.” she retrieved Akira’s arm and began pulling him along before stopping at the entrance to send a threatening glare his way, “Also, to answer your suggestion. No.” 

He turned towards the pair with a closed eye smile, “Have it your way.” he looked at Akira, “Good luck trying to enjoy your new school life.” and with that final message the students entered the school.

“New school life…” he mumbled to himself and was about to continue walking when he was stopped by a strong tug.

“What girl did you see in Kamoshida’s car?” He balanced himself before facing the shorter female, her light-brown eyes glinted with a faint curiosity. Akira scratched the back of his neck before shrugging his shoulders. “Do you remember what she looked like?”

The teenager looked towards the ceiling then faced Kagemi again, “Yeah, she was blonde and had blue eyes. Kinda looked foreign.”

“I see…”

“What do you mean?”

The female looked up to Akira reluctantly, “that girl was Ann Takamaki-san, she’s in my class.” she began to tug at the cuffs of her jacket, “I think she’s a nice girl and all but… that bastard Kamoshida…” she trailed off, trying to find the right words but failed, “...I don’t think it’s my place to say,” she paused, “telling the principal will be as good as talking to a brick wall…” she shook her head and adjusted her bookbag “Anyways, let’s go.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you for reading :D

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm sorta new to this type of thing and I'm mainly using this as practise so any constructive criticism is welcome!


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